Aokigahara
Aokigahara is a national park near Mount Fuji in Japan. Aokigahara translates as "Plain of green trees" and the area is also famous as Jukai - "Sea of trees". The area of the park is approximately 35 km2. The forest landscape contains many caves, some hundreds of meters long, and some have snow and ice that cannot melt even in summer.
During the Fuji eruption in 864, lava spread over 40 km2, and later the area became overgrown with trees. The ground is dug up, as if someone tried to uproot hundred-year-old trees. The roots of the trees cannot break through the strong lava rock and climb up, incredibly intertwined with stones thrown out during the eruption from the volcano.
Aokigahara is a favorite recreation area of Tokyo residents. Paths spread through the forest, small picnics are held in spacious clearings, and children are playing. The beautiful views of Mount Fuji attract artists here.
Aokigahara - Suicide Forest
This place is also an extremely terrible attraction. These places are also called the "Suicide Forest". Originally, the forest belonged to Japanese fairy tales, in which it was considered a habitat of devils and spirits. Myths about Aokigahara have been familiar since the Middle Ages, and in the 19th century, impoverished Japanese families brought and threw to certain death in the forest those who could not give enough food: the elderly and children. The situation was especially difficult during the drought, when the mentally ill, the elderly, the disabled, and small children were taken to the forest. The screams and cries of those doomed to agonizing starvation resounded through all corners of the forest. The feeble-minded wandered senselessly into caves more often, filling the area with terror with their screams. Perhaps that's why there are beliefs about ghosts who cannot find peace, and deal with everyone who happens to be nearby.
Since ancient times, there has been another custom - "suicide by conspiracy." This is when lovers agree to leave their lives together, because they think that they will unite in another world. This conspiracy is quite common in Japan, so if a man and a woman are found here, the police don't even really investigate the case, because the reason is quite obvious.
Now the time of lack of money and food has passed, but Aokigahara has not lost its former popularity. The eerie landscape and the alluring silence of the forest attract those who are tired of living. In terms of the number of suicides, the forest is ahead of the current Golden Bridge in San Francisco. At least 70 bodies are found in the thicket of the forest every year. Since 1970, the police have been officially searching for suicides. In 2002, 78 corpses were found. Most suicides hang themselves or cause a drug overdose. As soon as the current does not move much away from the trampled path, you start to stumble upon things left after the suicides. The forest is being cleared of bodies by the leadership of the nearest Narusawa tree, the cities of Fujikawaguchiko and Kofu. 5,000,000 yen is allocated annually for this purpose.
The great surge in suicides occurred in the 1990s, when Wataru Tsurumi's book was published in 1993, in which he described suicide methods and pointed out the Aokigahara Forest as a "good place" to die. The book sold more than a million copies, becoming a bestseller in Japan. Since then, this book has often been found next to corpses in the forest.
A large number of trees do not let the rays of the sun through, they do not allow you to follow the right course. Due to the huge area of the forest, it is difficult to determine the location even from the tops of tall trees. Do not rely on a compass: the forest is located on lava flows with Food, which do not allow the arrow to stop and show the direction of the light. At first, silence calms down, and later puts pressure on a resident of the city unaccustomed to silence, inspires a commotion and a feeling of weakness. Few people enter the depths of the forest of their own free will, only detachments clearing the territory of corpses every autumn and those who decided to take their own lives. Signs with warning text are placed in the vicinity of the forest. There are special patrols in the area that identify those who want to die in the forest. They easily identify such people: they are usually representatives of the stronger sex in business suits.
Many residents of the rising sun think that if you drop into the suicide forest, there is no chance of returning alive: the ghosts of the dead will lure you into the thick of it and will not let you go outside.
