The terrible thoughts about Japan have already been with us - this is why Codocusi do not pay for gas, but it turns out that this is not all.
Aokigahara (Jap. 青木 ヶ 原?, "Plain of Green Trees"); also known as Jukai (j. 樹 海?, “The Sea of Trees”) is a forest at the foot of Mount Fuji on the Japanese island of Honshu. The forest, which lies right at the foot of the volcano, is the complete opposite to the beauty and majestic tranquility of these places.
The total area is approximately 35 square meters km. The relief of the forest includes many rocky caves, and the location features in particular the density of the forest and the lowland provide “stunning” silence. It is also alleged that there are vast deposits of iron ore underground in the forest areas and it apparently explains the fact that compasses are not functioning in Aokigahara. The land which the forest is located on is a volcanic rock that is rather dense and can not be processed by tools such as hoes and shovels.
Aokigahara is considered a young forest because it was formed about 1,200 years ago. The last major eruption of the volcano Fuji occurred in 1707 and for some reason did not cover one of the slopes of about 3000 hectares of land with lava. Later this site was overgrown with dense forest of boxwood, pines and other conifers. Trees are almost a solid wall.
But the terrible thing is not this ...
Aokigahara’s fauna includes wild foxes, snakes and dogs.
Aokigahara is a national park, along which several tourist routes are offered, offering ascent to Fuji along the northern slope, as well as walks through the beautiful forest area. Because the forest is close to Tokyo and offers many different ways to spend time outdoors, Aokigahara is a popular place for picnics and weekend walks.
Among the attractions of the park "Ice Cave" (jap. 氷 穴 hyo: ketsu?) And "Wind Cave" (jap. 風 穴 fu: ketsu / kadezeana?).
In 864, there was a strong eruption of the volcano Fuji. An unbroken lava flow descending along the northwestern slope formed a huge lava plateau of 40 square meters. km, which took root very unusual forest. The soil is dug, as if someone was trying to uproot the age-old trunks. The roots of the trees, unable to break through a solid lava rock, go upstairs, fancifully intertwining over the rocky debris ejected once from the mouth of a volcano. The relief of the forest is riddled with fractures and numerous caves, some of which extend underground for several hundred meters, and in some of them the ice never melts.
With the onset of dusk about this place they begin to speak only in a whisper. The disappearances of people and frequent suicides - this is it, the real face of Aokigahara. Tourists are strictly punished not to turn off the main paths deep into the forest because it is easy to get lost here. A magnetic anomaly makes the compass a completely useless object, and a similar terrain does not allow finding a way out from memory. On the many ghosts that live in the forest, has long been legend. This place became notorious in the Middle Ages, when in the years of famine, the desperate poor brought their aged and frail relatives to the forest and left them to die there. The groans of these unfortunates could not break through the dense wall of trees, and no one heard the moaning of those doomed to painful death. The Japanese say that their ghosts await lonely travelers in the forest, wanting to avenge their suffering.
There was a rumor that here among the trees you can see the white ghostly outlines of the Yurais. According to Shintoism, the souls of those who died their death, are connected with the spirits of their ancestors. Those who have committed a violent death or committed suicide, become wandering ghosts - yurayami. Finding no peace, they come to our world in the form of legless ghostly figures with long arms and eyes burning in the dark. And the oppressive death-silence of the forest is disturbed at night by their moans and heavy breathing. Those who decide to visit Aokigahara should have strong nerves. It happens that the branch crunched underfoot turns out to be human bone, and the strange outline of a person in the distance is the corpse of another hanged man.
Only two varieties of people voluntarily enter the depths of the “forest of death” - members of special brigades of police and firefighters who are combing Aokigahara every autumn in search of the remains of suicides, and even suicides themselves.
Nowadays in Japan, no one suffers from hunger, but Aokigahara continues to play her ominous role even now. The mystical landscape and the ringing silence of the legendary forest attracts those who choose to voluntarily leave this life. In terms of the number of suicides committed each year, Aokigarahara gives in to this eerie palm only to the Golden Bridge in San Francisco. Since 1970, the police officially began to search for the bodies of the dead, for which special funds amounting to 5 million yen are annually allocated from the treasury. Once a year, the police, along with a large group of volunteers (about 300 people), are combing the forest. It is reported that from 30 to 80 bodies are found during such raids. This means that, on average, every week someone enters this “sea of trees” so that they never return ... In three nearby villages, which are charged with collecting this terrible harvest, there are facilities for storing unidentified remains.
The surge in the pilgrimage of suicides to the Aokigahara forest caused the “Complete Guide to Suicide” written by the writer Wataru Tsurumi, published in 1993 and immediately becoming a bestseller: more than 1.2 million copies were sold in Japan. This book provides a detailed description of the various ways of suicide, and the author described Aokigaharu as "a great place to die." A copy of Tsurumi’s book was found near the bodies of some of the suicides of Aokigahara. Local authorities worried about the endless wave of suicide
On the forest paths posters were installed as follows:
“Your life is a priceless gift from your parents. Think of them and your family. You do not have to suffer alone. Call us on 22-0110”
Local shops don’t sell funds (pills, ropes) that could be used to reconcile accounts with life. In the vicinity there are special patrols that catch those who want to get into Jukai on the approaches. It is easy to calculate those who decided to go to the forest: most often they are men in business suits.
It is impossible to say for sure how these words reduce the number of victims, but every year dozens of new bodies are found in the forest. Of course, they do not find everyone: there are those who settle accounts with life in a completely unsociable wilderness. There, the remains of the weak in spirit take away predatory animals forever making them part of this forest.
In 1960, the book of the Pagoda of Waves (Jap. 波 の 塔 Nami but that) was published in Japan by the writer Saite Matsumoto, which told about a woman who had once committed suicide in Aokigahara. Later, based on this novel, a television series was staged, which received extraordinary popularity in Japan.
Why do the Japanese, who seem to be living in such a prosperous country, come to one of the first places in the world in the number of suicides? More often than other reasons, is called the loss of workplace. Many say that the Japanese have become too pragmatic, and the lack of money means too much in the modern world. But here, perhaps, not the last role is played by the mentality that has developed many centuries ago, when the loss of social status is perceived as the worst of evils and can push you to commit suicide.
Also, from ancient times, another terrible ritual has come down to us, called in Japan “suicide by collusion”. It means voluntary departure from the life of two lovers, who for some reason cannot be together in this world. The belief that simultaneous death will unite them in the other world is still very strong. "Suicide by conspiracy" is still so common in Japan that when the bodies of a man and a woman are found, the police usually do not conduct a thorough investigation, considering the matter obvious. One of these cases is described in the detective novel of the same author, Seyte Matsumoto.
In 2005, the documentary “The Sea of Trees” (Jap. 樹 の 海 Ki no umi?) Was released, in which director Tomoyuki Takimoto tells the story of four people who decided to kill themselves in Aokigahara. At the 17th Tokyo International Film Festival, the film won the Best Film Award in the “Japanese Cinema. Your look.
The Japanese metal band Screw recorded the song “The Sea of Trees”, the video clip was based on the footage shot in Aokigahara.