Saturday, October 26, 2013

The Suicide Forest

Author: Shawny B

On the outside, Japan seems like a very happy country with loving people, but on the inside, the deep inside of Japan, that's not the case. In the dense forest of Mount Fuji lies the suicide forest. Often known as the sea of trees. Aokigahara is considered the most haunted location in all of Japan. The sucide forest is the second most popular place for sucide, right behind The Golden Gate Bridge in San Fransico, California. 


Don't look for me.

The suicide forest, located in Aokigahara, Japan is a very lonely place to die. Because of how dense the forest is, it is very easy to disappear in the vegetation, making it the perfect place to die. Also because of the density, no sounds can be heard other than the actual sounds of the forest. Every year, authorities find and remove over 100 bodies, but others are still undiscovered for years because the forest is to dense to be patrolled frequently. Hundreds of volunteers along with authorities seek to find the bodies of the suicide victims. So many people kill themselves, the authorities have no other place to store the remains. Rumor has it that the cause for this place to be the ultimate place to die, is based on a Sixties novel of a woman killing herself in the actual forest. They actually made a television show out of it! I'm pretty sure that will spark an idea. After the launch of the novel, people started to take their own lives at the rate of fifty to one hundred deaths a year. Each year the suicide ratings go up. The number of bankruptcies and unemployment have a lot to do with those rising ratings. In March, which is the end of the fiscal year, more people come to the forest because of the bad economy. 


The rate of suicide is so high here, the police have put up signs on the way to the forest saying, "Please Reconsider" and "Please consult the police before you decide to die!" nailed to the trees. The bodies that are taking from the woods are taking to a room and put on a bed where someone sleeps beside it… creepy right? Well, it's true! It was said that if the corpse was left alone, it will scream though out the night.

The Japanese government has raised the suicide awareness in school and work places. They have gone as far as to post security cameras to the entrances of the forest.

Mount Fuji is a beautiful place to visit, from a far that is. If you go into the actual forest, prepare to hear weird sounds, and be visited by ghosts and demons. 

Works Cited:

Lyle Brennan,"The suicide forest of Japan: Mount Fuji beauty spot where up to 100 bodies are found very year,"Mail Online, Glam Entertainment, 2012, http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2127414/The-suicide-forest-Japan-Mystery-Mount-Fuji-beauty-spot-100-bodies-year.html

Zack Davisson,"The Suicide Woods of Woods of Mt. Fuji,"Japanzine,2006,http://www.japanzine.jp/article/jz/957/the-suicide-woods-of-mt-fuji

Peter Hadfield,"Japan Struggles with soaring death toll in Suicide Forest," The Telegraph, 2000,http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/asia/japan/1373287/Japan-struggles-with-soaring-death-toll-in-Suicide-Forest.html

Kyung Lah,"Desperate Japanese head to 'suicide forest'," CNN, 2009, http://www.cnn.com/2009/WORLD/asiapcf/03/19/suicide.forrest.japan/

Vice News,"Aokigahara Suicide Forest," Vice, 2011, http://www.vice.com/vice-news/aokigahara-suicide-forest-v3



Websites for further research
 The Japan Times http://www.japantimes.co.jp/life/2011/06/26/general/inside-japans-suicide-forest/#.UmHGKBYTv6c This website delivers a personal experience that the author observed going into the forest.

Intruders tangle 'suicide forest' with tape http://web.archive.org/web/20080506060315/http://www.asahi.com/english/Herald-asahi/TKY200805020328.html This website gives additional information bout the actual density f the forest.

Japan's harvest of death http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/asia/japans-harvest-of-death-635356.html This website gives information about how much deaths are recorded, and how much people die a year.

No comments:

Post a Comment