Aokigahara
Aokigahara is a national park near Mount Fuji in Japan. Aokigahara translates as "The Plain of Green Trees" still the area is glorified as Dzyukai - "Sea of Trees". The area of the park is approximately 35 km2. The landscape of the forest contains many caves, some in length are hundreds of meters, and in some ice snow cannot melt even in summer.
During the Fuji eruption in 864, lava spilled over 40 km2, later the area began to become infected with trees. The earth was dug as if someone was trying to tear the centenary trees from the root. The roots of the trees cannot break a strong lava rock and crawl up, incredibly interwoven with stones thrown out during the eruption from the volcano.
Aokigahara is a favorite recreation area for Tokyo residents. Paths creep through the forest, small picnics are arranged in spacious meadow, guys are played. Delightful views of Mount Fuji attract artists here.
Aokigahara - a suicide forest
This place is also an extremely terrible attraction. These places are also called the "Forest of Suicides". Initially, the forest was associated with Japanese fairy tales, in which it was considered the place of residence of devils and spirits. Myths about Aokigahara are familiar with the Middle Ages, and in the 19th century, poor Japanese families brought and threw in the forest for certain death those who could not be given enough food: old people and children. A particularly difficult situation was during the drought, when the mentally ill, old people, disabled people, and young children were taken to the forest. The cries doomed to painful starvation spread over all corners of the forest. Weak-minded people wandered meaninglessly more often, caves, flooding horror around the district with their screams. Perhaps that is why there were beliefs about ghosts that cannot find peace for themselves, and deal with everyone who is nearby.
Since ancient times, another custom has come - "suicide by conspiracy". This is when lovers agree to die together, as they think that they will unite in another world. This conspiracy is quite common for Japan, so if a man and a woman are found here, the police will not even really investigate the matter, since the reason is quite obvious.
Now the time of lack of money and food has passed, but Aokigahara has not lost her former popularity. An ominous landscape and the beckoning silence of the forest lures those who are tired of living. By the number of suicides, the forest is ahead of the Golden Bridge in San Francisco. Every year, at least 70 bodies are discovered in more often forests. Since 1970, the police began to officially search for suicides. in 2002, 78 corpses were found. Mostly suicides are hung, or cause an overdose of drugs. It’s worth a little bit of current to move away from the trampled track, as you start bumping into things left after suicides. The management of the nearest village of Narusawa, the city of Fujikavagutiko and Kofu is engaged in clearing forests from bodies. For this, 5,000,000 yen is allocated every year.
A big surge of suicide occurred in the 1990s when the book by Watar Zurumi was published in 1993, in which he described the methods of suicide, and indicated the forest of Aokigahara as a “good place” for death. The book sold out in 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 miss the rays of the sun, does not allow you to go the right course. Due to the vast area of the forest, it is difficult to determine the location even of the top of tall trees. Do not rely on the compass: the forest is located on lava flows from Fuji, which do not allow the arrow to stop and show the side of the world. At first, silence calms, and later pressing a resident of the city who is not used to silence, instills a commotion and a feeling of weakness. Few people enter the depths of the forest of their own free will, only detachments that cleanse the territory of corpses every fall and those who decided to settle scores with life. On the outskirts of the forest are plates with cautionary text. There are special patrols in the district that determine those who want to die in the forest. They easily identify these: usually they are representatives of a strong sex in business suits.
Many residents of the country of the rising sun think that if suicides jump into the forest, there is no chance of returning alive: the ghosts of the dead will be lured into the thicket and will not let them go outside.
