Aokigahara Suicide Forest

Resting in Mount Fuji’s shadow lies a forest shrouded by death, the world’s second most popular suicide location

Called "the perfect place to die," the Aokigahra forest has the unfortunate distinction as the worlds second most popular place to take ones life (the first is the Golden Gate Bridge). Since the 1950s, Japanese businessmen have wandered in, and at least 500 of them haven't wander out, a rate of roughly 30 suicides in the forest a year. Recently these numbers have increased with a record 78 bodies in 2002.

Japanese spiritualists believe that the suicides committed in the Aokigahra forest has permeated Aokigahra’s trees, generating paranormal activity and preventing many who enter from escaping the forest’s depths. Complicating matters further is the popular experience of compasses rendered useless by rich deposits of magnetic iron in the area’s volcanic soil.

Due to the vastness of the forest desperate visitors are unlikely to encounter anyone once inside, so the police have left signs reading "Your life is a precious gift from your parents" and "Please consult the police before you decide to die!" are mounted on trees throughout the forest.

Contemporary news outlets have noted a spike in suicides in the forest, blamed more recently on Japan’s economic downturn, than on the romantic ending of Seicho Matsumoto’s novel Kuroi Jukai, which revitalized the so-called Suicide Forest’s popularity among those determined to take their final walk in these particular woods (the novel culminates in Aokigahara as the characters are driven to joint-suicide among the trees).

Locals say they can easily spot the three types of visitors to the forest: trekkers interested in scenic vistas of Mount Fuji, the curious hoping for a glimpse of the macabre, and those souls who don’t plan on returning.

What those hoping to take their life may not consider is the impact it has on the locals and forest workers. In the words of a local man "It bugs the hell out of me that the area's famous for being a suicide spot," and a local police officer said "I've seen plenty of bodies that have been really badly decomposed, or been picked at by wild animals"..."There's nothing beautiful about dying in there."

The forest workers have it even worse then the local police. The workers must carry the bodies down from the forest to the local station, where the bodies are put in a special room used specifically to house suicide corpses. The forest workers then play jan-ken-pon -- a type of rock, paper, scissors -- to see who has to sleep in the room with the corpse.

It is believed that if the corpse is left alone, it is very bad luck and that the ghost or "yurei" of the body will scream through the night, and the body will move itself on its own.




Signs encouraging the desperate to "Please reconsider!" are found throughout Aokigahara.