Thursday, 7 April 2016

Aokigahara or Suicide forest

          Last night I tried to watch the horror movie, but something catch my thoughts. Of course it was American horror, so the plot was not very complicated and at the beginning you know that the main character will be dead soon. Quite nice blonde haired girl catch the flight to the Japan, because her sister missed. Like always Japan seems to be very strange place, where live very strange people with very, very strange habits. Nice blonde girl met some very handsome guy, who wanted to help her in her mission impossible. And the mission is… find the sister in Aokigahara, otherwise known as Suicide Forest.    

          I was curious if such a place exists and yes, it is true. The forest is located in National Park Fuji-Hakone-Izu at the north-western foot of Mount Fuji. Forest covered with solidified lava. Aokigahara is covered an area of 30 km2, is extremely dense, and the surface of the lava makes it more difficult to move. I was a little bit disappointed, because in movie the Blond and Handsome could not go out of the forest. How it possible in such a small forest. They should be walk straight about 5 km and there for sure was a road. But ok, it was horror so they must run around and saw a lot of Japanese ghosts with long dark hair covering face and probably dressed in traditional Japanese clothes, but I am not sure (there was a school girls dressed in school uniforms too).

          On the other hand they may not be able to leave the forest, because the density of trees makes the inside a windless atmosphere and the unusual silence or because of the iron deposits under the ground in the forest compasses do not work. Another theory says that in the forest are souls of the dead that lures suicides. Dark history describes the former custom, when in times of hunger brought here elderly and sick people, leaving them to die. Perhaps their souls are there today, encouraging suicide desperadoes.

          Statistics are cruel. In 1998 committed suicide here 73 people. In 2003 the number rose to 105, and in 2004 to 108. Local authorities decided no longer publish information about the number of bodies, hoping that Aokigahara stop be associated with suicide. At the edge of the forest there are numerous signs discouraging to kill themselves and to encourage contact with the police. Supposedly it is the second most popular place in terms of the number of suicides, just after the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco. And all of this, because the books written by Seicho Matsumoto telling about the spirit of a woman who committed suicide there.

           Aokigahara forest has several tourist trails and lava caves prepared to explore. Inside you can see the empty camps, clothes, wallets, photos, and even the bones covered with moss.

          So if someone does not have plans for the holidays, I would heartily recommend.


PS. The movie that I watched is titled “The forest” (2016).





Photos: www.aokigaharaforest.com

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