Suicide forest of Japan
“Think carefully about your children and your family.”
“Your life is a precious rgift from your parents.”
These are some common signs one will encounter as soon as one reaches the outskirts of Aokigahara Forest in Japan – very often referred as suicide forest across the globe.
Location:
The forest is located at coordinates 35O.28’ 12” N, 138O.37’ 11” E on the northwest flank of Japan’s Mount Fuji. It is spread over 30 KM2 (12 sq mi) covering the hardened laid down by the last major eruption of Mount Fuji in 864.
Little about the forest
Historically this forest has been
reputed as home of yurei: ghosts of death as per Japanese mythology. This dense
forest is spread over volcanic rock, making it a perfect place for those who
seeking solitude. The rocks on which the forest is, are porous and absorbs the sound.
As the forest is very dense, trackers, hikers and tourist exploring this forest,
use plastic tap to track their paths, so they don’t get lost.
Designated trails lead to several tourist attractions such as the Narusawa Ice Cave, Fugaku Wind Cave and Lake Sai Bat Cave which are three larger lava caves near Mount Fuji, the ice cave being frozen year-round.
Bermuda Triangle of
Japan
As most of us know that it is said that ships & air crafts gets lost, while crossing Bermuda Triangle as the compass and other devices based on magnetic principles seize to work. Similarly Aokigahara was falsely portrayed as Bermuda Triangle of Japan. Actually when compasses are placed directly on a lava rock the needles will move due its alignment with the rock's natural magnetism, which varies in iron content and strength by location. On the contrary the fact is compasses will work normal if held at normal height.
Flora and Fauna
The forest is laden with variety of conifers and broadleaf trees and
shrubs. Deeper in the forest there are many herbaceous flowering plants,
there are also the myco-heterotrophic and on the edges of forest have
many more species.
Talking about Fauna some prominent habitants of this jungle are Asian
Black Bear, small Japanese mole, bats, mice, deer, fox, boar, wild rabbit,
Japanese squirrel. Birds ruling the skies of this forest include great tit,
willow tit, long-tailed tit, magerahigara, higera, great spotted woodpecker,
pygmy woodpecker, bush warbler, Eurasian jay, Japanese white-eye, Japanese
thrush, brown-headed thrush, Siberian thrush, Hodgson's hawk-cuckoo, Japanese
grosbeak, lesser cuckoo, black-faced bunting, oriental turtle dove, and common
cuckoo.
This forest is also home of ground beetles and other insects, including
many species of butterflies, even in the forest interior Argynnis paphia, Chrysozephyrus
smaragdinus, Celastrina argiolus, Celastrina
sugitanii, Curetis acuta, Favonius
jezoensis, Neptis sappho, Parantica sita and Polygonia c-album are found.
World’s top Suicide Site
Though now the local bodies have stopped issuing figures about suicide victims
who either attempted or committed suicide in this forest.
But as per available figures in 2003 – 105 bodies were found, exceeding
the previous records of 78 bodies found in 2002.
In year 2010 local authorities recorded 200 attempts of suicide, out of
which 54 poor souls perished.
Trends show that the rate of suicides / suicide attempts increases in
the month of March – the month in which financial year for Japan ends.
What is certain, though, is that the numbers continue to rise each year
This is also the case nationwide. In January, a National Police Agency
(NPA) report indicated that 31,690 people committed suicide in 2010, the 13th
consecutive year in which the figures topped 30,000. In fact, according to
World Health Organization data, the suicide rate in Japan is 25.8 per 100,000
people — the highest among developed nations, and more than double that of the
United States.
The most common means of suicide in the forest were hanging or drug
overdose.
A peep in history
The site's popularity has been attributed to Seichō Matsumoto's 1961 novel Nami no Tō (Tower of Waves). However, the history of suicide in Aokigahara predates the
novel's publication, and the place has long been associated with death; ubasute ("abandoning an
old woman", also called obasute and sometimes oyasute "abandoning
a parent") is the rare, old practice of senicide in Japan, whereby an infirm or elderly relative was carried to a mountain, or some other
remote, desolate place, and left there to die. According to the Kodansha
Illustrated Encyclopedia of Japan, ubasute "is the subject of legend, but… does not seem ever to have been a common custom") may have been practiced there into the
nineteenth century, and the forest is reputedly haunted by the yūrei of those left
to die.
High rates of suicide, forced authorities to put up signs at the forest’s
entry as a last line of defense to save souls – which are about to perish. Volunteers,
local police and some journalists conduct annual body searches since 1970.
Bonus Section:
List of world’s top 10 sites for Suicide:
1. Aokigahara
Forest – Mount Fuji (Japan)
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