Wedding

Aokigahara Jukai - suicide forest in Japan (photo). Aokigahara - the last refuge of ghosts and suicides

Japan has scared the world more than once with its horror films, in fact, draws plots from very peculiar myths. It is based on the idea that a person who died a violent death, or a suicide, will not just leave this world, but will remain and will take revenge on the living.

WARNING: The faint of heart, impressionable, pregnant and under 18 years of age viewing this report is not recommended!

The legend that makes many Japanese perk up at the word "Jukai" has its roots in the Middle Ages. In the years of famine, peasant families, who could not feed the old people and newborns, took them to this forest to die.

In modern times, the forest has become a magnet for those who decide to commit suicide, largely because of Japanese literature. One of the first forest glorified Seycho Matsumoto in the work "Dark Jukai". Then there was the sensational book " Detailed guide how to commit suicide", where the forest was described as " perfect place"for suicide. Only some time after the release of this creation, two bodies were found in the forest, and with them read copies of the book.

Aokigahara Jukai (青木ヶ原樹海) is a dark forest at the foot of Mount Fuji on the Japanese island of Honshu. Fuji is a dormant volcano. But in 864, an eruption occurred here, and lava flows shaped the appearance of these places. Then the forested mountain valleys of Aokigahara appeared.

Adds mystery and the volcanic origin of the local relief, which caused a magnetic anomaly that does not allow you to accurately navigate there by compass.

The land on which the forest is located is a volcanic rock that is quite dense and cannot be worked with hand tools, such as hoes and shovels.

Since the 50s of the last century, the remains of more than five hundred suicides have been found in Jukai. An impressive figure for a forest is a little over 3 hectares. More people step into the abyss only from the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco.

Shield inscription: Your life is a priceless gift from your parents. Think of them and your family. You don't have to suffer alone. Call us 22-0110

In 2002, 78 remains of suicides were found.

Hanging and drug poisoning are the leading methods of suicide.

According to eyewitnesses, it is enough to take just a few dozen steps deep into the forest from the path, as on the ground you can find things, bags, plastic bottles and packaging of tablets.

Imagine a forest from an eerie gothic fairy tale.

With inconceivably twisted trees, moss hanging from them and gaping caves everywhere. This is Jukai.

Around dead silence, from which gradually begins to ring in the ears.

Any rustle makes you turn around, and conversations become unnaturally cheerful, just not to hear this silence. But the most unpleasant thing is that in Jukai it seems all the time that there is someone behind your back.

On the bus, you will definitely be told to "be careful." At any time of the year, at any hour of the day, the gloomy mass of trees hides the sun, leads astray.

The wooded plain stretching for many kilometers does not allow you to orient yourself even from the top of the tallest tree. And the sky around Fuji is often covered with clouds. Hopes for the compass are also in vain: the forest has grown on the lava flows of Fujiyama, which force the arrow to do anything except indicate the cardinal points.

And the silence - at first pleasant, and then leaning on the city dweller, unaccustomed to silence, instilling anxiety and a feeling of helplessness.

Only two kinds of people voluntarily go into the depths of the "forest of death" - members special brigades policemen and firefighters who comb Aokigahara every autumn in search of the remains of suicides, and even the suicides themselves.

In order to prevent new suicides, local authorities are taking a number of preventive measures: they are installing signs with appeals and indicating hotlines, installing video cameras along the road and paths leading into the forest.

Local shops do not sell funds (pills, ropes) that could be used to settle accounts with life. In the vicinity there are special patrols that catch those who want to get into Jukai even on the approaches. It is easy to figure out those who decided to go to the forest: most often they are men in business suits.

Many Japanese sincerely believe that if you enter Jukai, you cannot return from there - the spirits of the dead will lure you into the thicket and will not let you out.

That is why the forest so attracts those who like to tickle their nerves.

Many people know that in Japan there is ritual suicide - hara-kiri. I recently came across a material about one of the creepy places in Japan. It seemed that this material deserves attention. But when she began to "dig" the topic, she became really creepy. The Japanese are belligerent, they have samurai there with a code of honor and all things, but what I read, in my opinion, is on the verge of absurdity. Let's start with the fact that in Japanese culture all ways of dying are regulated, described in books and have their own names!

On the island of Honshu, near Mount Fuji, sacred to the Japanese, there is an ancient and spooky forest. The Japanese gave it several names, and all of them reflect its essence and purpose: "forest of ghosts", "sea of trees", "forest of suicides", "forest of death". The relief and forests of this "wonderful" place appeared after the eruption of Fujiyama in 864, and finally formed after the eruption in 1707. Forest area "Jukai" in size as horticultural partnership for 50 dachas of the famous "6 acres". This, of course, is not so much compared to the taiga, but it is very creepy here. If you imagine a dense gothic forest from the horror films "Brothers Grimm", then this is it! There are trees with twisted trunks covered with moss, and the air temperature drops closer to the middle of the forest. Those who come here out of curiosity may not find their way back if they turn off the path. The compass does not work here due to the magnetic anomaly that arose after the Fujiyama eruption.

In addition to the external creepy surroundings and natural anomalies, there is a legend that adds horror to this place. It says that in the Middle Ages, peasants who could not feed the elderly and newborn children in their families took them to die in this forest. The Japanese believe that if you go into this forest out of curiosity, then the spirits of the dead will lure their victim into the thicket and will not give them the opportunity to return to people.

The story of the creepy forest was continued in the last century thanks to fiction. The Japanese writer Matsumo Seicho published two of his works in 1960. The first one, called "The Black Sea of Trees," according to its plot, two lovers who cannot be married commit suicide. Their corpses are found on the seashore. In Japan, there is a strange custom for us. If the lovers cannot marry, then they commit suicide “by conspiracy”. To commit the last event in their lives, they choose a place in nature and ... And when the police find their bodies, everything is clear to them in advance and investigations, as a rule, are not carried out. Darkness!!!

The second book is "Pagoda of the Waves" about the ghost of a woman who deliberately took her own life in the "forest of death". After the release of these books, "Jukai" began to be used especially often to settle accounts with life. According to Japanese mythology, a suicide cannot leave this world and go to the realm of the dead, but must remain on Earth and take revenge on the living. Since 1970, the police officially began to search for dead bodies in this forest and they were found by the dozens.

In 1993, Wataru Tsurumi published the book " Complete Guide suicide" in which he positioned the "forest of death" as an ideal place to settle accounts with life. This publication is detailed description 10 methods of suicide. It is supplied with graphics and comics in the style of "mango". Some time after the publication of this treatise, the police found in the forest the corpses of people who had copies of it read with them. Since that time, the forest has become so popular among suicides that the only competitor to it was the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco. This book was not banned by the Japanese authorities and is still sold on bookstores in the Land of the Rising Sun. Star in shock!!!

Even if you go only a few meters into the forest, you can find various things on the ground that belong to once living people. Marauders sometimes come here, but not for long and, as a rule, do not return here again. Eyewitnesses say that it is creepy to walk between the trees. There is an unusual silence in the forest, which eventually becomes "ringing" and drives you crazy. The slightest rustle makes you look around, besides there is an unpleasant feeling that there is someone behind you. In addition, one cannot renounce the fact that in search of valuable things "accidentally" there will be a skeleton or a corpse that may lie on the ground, or may hang on tree branches in the most unexpected pose.

The number of discovered bodies is constantly increasing. If before the beginning of the 2000s there were several dozen of them a year, now there are more than a hundred of them. The Japanese have many reasons for taking a desperate step: unrequited love, a hopeless situation or "loneliness" among people. Local authorities are trying to prevent suicide in this place and for this they place security cameras along the road leading to the forest, put up signs with a call not to commit irreparable. There is even a special person who tries to distinguish a suicide from an extreme person who is trying to visit this place alone and “gain” adrenaline in the bins. Foresters, volunteers and the police of the three surrounding villages are responsible for finding, transporting to burial and burying the bodies found. Special funds are allocated for the implementation of this sad and terrible mission.

In addition to preventive measures, 300 people go out at the same time once a year for a thorough examination of the forest area. They find the bodies and send them to a specially designated room - the "morgue". As a rule, it is full of "forest finds" that have not been claimed by anyone for a long time.

It happens that foresters during their raids find another body or skeleton. Then they send him to the department forestry, where there is a certain storage room for such finds. It has only two beds. One for the corpse, the other for the forester, who must guard him all night, because. according to the superstitions of the Japanese, the ghost of a suicide will howl at night and may try to carry his body back to the forest, and then he will have to be prevented from doing so. Interestingly, fearless foresters play for the right to sleep with a corpse. Brrr!!!

The Japanese have a very rich and interesting culture, but to elevate the culture of suicide is too much!

The place is called Aokigahara (青木ヶ原). It is also called Jukai (樹海 - "Plain of Green Trees" / "Sea of Trees"). This forest is located on the island of Honshu, at the foot of Mount Fuji. Inside the forest, the temperature drops, and finding your way back after leaving the path is quite difficult, even if you climb to the very top. tall tree in the forest.

Aokigahara is considered one of the young forests as it was formed approximately 1200 years ago. Mount Fuji last time erupted in 1707, and for some unknown reason, not one of the slopes was covered with lava (an area of \u200b\u200babout 3000 hectares of land). Later, this area was overgrown with an already dense forest of pines, white cedar and boxwood. Trees stand almost like a solid wall. The fauna of Aokigahara includes wild foxes, snakes, and dogs. Also, Aokigahara is a national park, along which several tourist routes have been laid, offering a climb to Mount Fuji along the northern slope, as well as walks through a beautiful forest area.

Since the forest is located near Tokyo, and offers many various ways spend time outdoors, Aokigahara is a popular place for picnics and weekend walks (I wouldn't be that scared, but definitely uncomfortable...but who knows).

Among the attractions of this park are "Ice Cave" and "Wind Cave".

Now let's talk about history:

He(forest) is, perhaps, one of a kind of unfortunate landmark of Japan. Usually this place is called "Suicide Forest." Initially, the forest was associated with Japanese mythology and was traditionally considered the habitat of demons and ghosts (really similar).

Legends about this place have been known to the Japanese since the Middle Ages, and in the 19th century, the poor Japanese families they brought and left their old people and children in this forest to certain death, whom they could not feed ... (goosebumps). All Japanese believe that evil spirits and supernatural forces live in this forest (the atmosphere is proof of this). Aokigahara is also considered one of the most scary places on Earth: since 1950, more than 500 people have committed suicide there. For example, 78 bodies were found in 2002 alone. It was thought to have started when Seicho Macumoto published his novel Kuroi Kaidzu (The Black Sea of Trees), where two of his characters committed suicide.

Imagine a forest from a spooky gothic fairy tale. With inconceivably twisted trees, moss hanging from them and gaping caves everywhere. This is Jukai. But the most terrible thing in it is the dead silence, from which gradually begins to ring in the ears. Any rustle makes you turn around, and conversations become unnaturally cheerful, just not to hear this silence. But the most unpleasant thing is that in Jukai all the time it seems that there is someone behind your back.

Tragic outcomes / suicides:
The Land of the Rising Sun, which has frightened the whole world more than once with its horror films, actually draws its plots not from the inflamed imagination of the scriptwriters, but from very peculiar myths. They are based on the idea that a person who died a violent death or committed suicide will not just leave this world, but will remain and will cruelly take revenge on the living. For almost everyone who decides to enter the "Sea of Green" (this is how the real name of the forest Aokigahara Jukai is translated), there will be a one-way road. Imagine dense, suffocating stands competing for light and space. Entire floors made of fallen branches, rocks covered with moss, lichens, barely visible paths, climbing plants, flowers and cobwebs. Deep caves of ice and stone complete absence any sound around...

Even a compass will not save you. The forest stands above a huge magnetic anomaly, and the arrow will dance like clockwork. If you still dare, then take a GPS with you .... and if something happens to you, then few people will come to your rescue, even the authorities. For this is the forest where death lives...

Aokigahara is a popular suicide site among residents of Tokyo and the surrounding area and is considered the second most popular place in the world (leading by the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco) to settle accounts with life. Between 70 and 100 bodies are found in the forest each year. Officially, the police began searching for the bodies of Aokigahara suicides in 1970. Since that time, the number of discovered bodies has been growing year by year more and more ... In 2002, 78 remains of suicides were found.

Hanging and drug poisoning are the leading methods of suicide. According to eyewitnesses, it is enough to take just a few dozen steps deep into the forest from the path, as on the ground you can find things, bags, plastic bottles and packs of pills ....

The thickets of Aokigahara absorb completely...
In itself, there is nothing unusual here, any ancient forest acquires an atmosphere of mystery and collects many similar stories. However, in this case, they grew into something more, a kind of feedback with dark places in the human psyche.

According to statistics, most of suicides - men in business suits, and according to officials - suicides due to the crisis (Japan's economy has always been unstable, even before the global economic crisis). However, not all so simple. It’s clear that the Japanese are very hardworking people, they already work in excess of the norm, and they lose their nerves, and after a lot of work in offices or somewhere else, all the work is “down the drain”, the authorities just don’t have enough, but it’s not a crisis the only problem. As it turned out, literature intervened: There was a acclaimed book "Detailed Guide to Committing Yourself," which described the forest as "the perfect place" for suicide. The government is fighting this - they will put up security cameras, signs "Rethink". Near the forest there is even a person who is called a "guide", but he, in fact, is trying to distinguish between a suicide and an extreme, that is, let him in or not, call the authorities, or everything is not so simple. Located at the foot of Fuji forest Aokigahara (Aokigahara, or Jukai) - favorite place Japanese youth to settle accounts with life...

In modern times, all this has changed, the forest's reputation making it attractive to depressed young people, a haven for rejected lovers, and other categories of suicidal individuals. To reiterate, the notorious Japanese bestseller The Complete Manual of Suicide, written by Wataru Tsurumi and published in 1993, described Aokigahara as a "beautiful place to die" and this only increased attention to him.

Leaders and law enforcement The three villages bordering the forest - Narusawa, Ashidawa and Kamikuishiki - are responsible under Japanese law for unidentified bodies in their area, and often the corpses wait a long time in Aokigahara before they are discovered, making identification impossible or extremely difficult and expensive. Search party must find the bodies, take them out of the forest, and "dispose of" either by burning or arranging for burial.
For this, they receive money from Yamanashi Prefecture, but the task has become so onerous that the costs reach 5 million yen each year (1.5 million rubles). The corpses must be returned from the forest to the local forestry department, where a special room is set aside for their storage - a room with two beds, one for the corpse and one for the forest worker, who must sleep nearby. This is due to the fact that, according to Japanese superstition, the ghost of a prematurely deceased will howl all night and possibly try to carry away the body, since the body of a suicide must remain in the company of his kind. Foresters usually play with each other for the prize of who should sleep with the corpse.

At the entrance to the forest there is a poster:

Your life is a priceless gift from your parents.

Think about them and about your family.

You don't have to suffer alone.

Call us: 22-0110.

In order to prevent this, local authorities are taking a number of preventive measures: they are installing signs with appeals and indicating helplines, installing video cameras along the road and paths leading into the forest. Local shops do not sell products (pills, ropes) that could be used to settle accounts with life. Employees of shops located near the roads leading to Aokigahara unmistakably single out from the crowd those tourists who arrived here with the intention of suicide: "They wander around for a while before starting down the trail and are careful not to make eye contact with anyone..." Translation: "...They hang around for a while before going down the path, and they also try not to make eye contact with anyone."(c) Kazuaki Amano, cashier shopping center Lava Cave. The same employee confirmed that in case of suspicion, they immediately report to the police. Regular patrols of the forest and surrounding roads by police and volunteers also help prevent possible suicides. Particularly conspicuous are “men, who have not abandoned the habit of constantly wearing a business suit, wandering along the paths of Aokigahara in strict office clothes”, they are taken by the police in the first place! IN without fail Once a year, the forest is subjected to a thorough inspection by a large group of volunteers (about 300 people) and the police. The areas of the forest they check are fenced off with a special tape, which remains hanging.

Numerous tourist guides and websites are full of advice not to deviate from the laid official routes and paths, since it is very easy to get lost in the forest.

If I'm not mistaken, then there is the film "In the Forest / The Forest" 2011.

Life is a GIFT! Let's not think about the bad (thoughts materialize), let's smile more often and enjoy every day. Let's do nice things for each other. Let's just live for the sake of those who love us!!! WORLD PEACE!!!

"FIAT LUX! Translation: "Let there be Light!"

American screenwriter, producer, and director David S. Goyer has always been able to impress with his projects. It was he who wrote the script for all three parts of "Blade", "Teleport" and the trilogy about "The Dark Knight". It was he who produced such tapes as "Mission to Mars" and "Ghost Rider". It was he who sat in the director's chair of such projects "Blade: Trinity", "Invisible", and then completely switched to serial productions (on David's account "Da Vinci's Demons" and "Remember What Will Be", as well as the forgotten "Limit" ). And yet, this talented person writes more scripts and acts as a producer. As a screenwriter, mentioned in the credits, Goyer can only boast of March 24, when Batman v Superman will be released, but as a producer, the recent release of the horror film Ghost Forest from aspiring director and screenwriter Jason Zada.

After Jess disappeared in Japan, namely in the forest of Aokigahara, famous for a very bad reputation (some say that ghosts invite tourists, and if they go into the thicket, they will only find them dead, while others simply call it the "forest of suicides" ), her twin sister Sarah goes in search of her. Confident that Jess is all right and that nothing will happen to her in this dark place, Sarah and two other fellow travelers go in search, but the deeper into the forest, further from the road, the more paranoia, fear and distrust of the heroine in relation to others

A very brave decision was the appointment of Jason Zada as director this project. Agree, when decent money is spent on a film (as much as 10 million dollars), nominations of newcomers or debutants do not always pass. But Jason somehow managed to get a place as a director and his work, his first steps, he is doing very well and resolutely and arrogantly, diligently. Jason is not afraid to experiment, and probably such a non-standard approach allows the film to jump over the “trash” or “bad” bar and master the height of “very not bad”, and the status of the director strengthens his jump even more. The script was also written by a tandem of newcomers - debutants. This line-up includes Nick Antosca, Sarah Cornwell and Ben Ketai. Not to say that the screenwriters watched dozens of films on similar topics, but quite the opposite, they were able to come up with an original plot and almost managed to develop the plot in the right direction. To some extent, it seems that the viewer faces another struggle between reality and imagination, but how does the script manage to evolve and turn into a well-staged thriller. What is disappointing is the ending: the action is well developed, does not try to be empty or predictable (although the writers did add a couple), but the ending remains so empty and raw that it seems the trio thought out the ending in the shortest possible time. The script itself is good and even original, but again, the ending spoils everything. The operator Matthias Troelstrup is trying to show all his skills, which sometimes really succeeded, since the European is famous not only in the horror / thriller genre. Here, McCreary, like almost the entire film set, is not afraid to experiment, replacing calm, high-quality shooting with his favorite style of most “dangling camera” horror films, I’m sure that this was done to maintain the right atmosphere, but in reality it’s not so easy to surprise the viewer. Bear managed to shoot night shots more, so they can really keep you in suspense, because in dark forest, and even where several corpses weigh behind each stump, anything can be imagined, another “boo” will crawl out. The American composer Bear McCreary creates the right atmosphere and does not let it go until the end - the music is made precisely for the conscience and quality, it perfectly suits the right moments of the film (especially the dynamic ones).

As you can see from the script, there are not very many main characters here, they can all be listed on the fingers of one hand, so to some extent, this reduced the necessary costs to attract a world-class race. However, the film has its own bright Star represented by Natalie Dormer, who manages almost everywhere, despite her schedule! But it's one thing to act in the "Game of Thrones" or "The Hunger Games", and in a similar genre, the actress plays almost for the first time, and even in different roles (Sarah and Jess, respectively). The British plays confidently, tries and is not afraid to improvise, deservedly justifying all expectations. It is worth noting the game of Taylor Kinney and his character Aiden, a successful journalist. Kinney and his character help Natalie bring the right emotions to the picture, the very game worthy of a real and confusing thriller. There are not many other actors here and most are either ordinary passers-by or meet in one or two scenes.

Ghost Forest is a very worthy test for all the newcomers involved in the project (and this is the director and screenwriters), as well as for Natalie Dormer, who can add a new character from a new genre to her track record. Perhaps the picture of Jason Zada does not quite fit the title of a horror movie, it's true, but the fact that this is a very good atmospheric thriller is a fact. The advantages of the tape can be called the originality of the script, very close-knit team work and very good game actors, while the main minus still lurked in the ending, destroying everything that the scriptwriters worked on. The film can be recommended to omnivorous fans of horror films, fans of not bad thrillers, provided that you understand that this work was done by beginners, as well as fans of Natalie Dormer, they can be happy for their favorite actress. Everything else is optional.

Thanks for attention!

A shield with this inscription will meet you if you go to the very scary forest on everything the globe located in Japan, at the foot of majestic mountain Fuji. If you go inside, then you have almost no chance to get out. Yes, and few people enter this forest, with the hope of a way back.

https://music.ykt.ru/music/9223

Your life is a priceless gift from your parents.

Think about them and about your family.

You don't have to suffer alone.

Call us

The Land of the Rising Sun, which has frightened the whole world more than once with its horror films, actually draws its plots not from the inflamed imagination of the scriptwriters, but from very peculiar myths. They are based on the idea that a person who died a violent death or committed suicide will not just leave this world, but will remain and will cruelly take revenge on the living.

For almost everyone who dares to enter

"Sea of Greens"(this is how the real name of the forest is translated

Aokigahara Jukai), this hike will be a one way trip, an easy train ticket with no chance of returning. Imagine dense, suffocating stands competing for light and space. Entire floors made of fallen branches, rocks covered with moss, lichens, barely visible paths, climbing plants, flowers and cobwebs. Deep caves of ice and stone, the complete absence of any sound around ...

Even a compass will not help you here - the forest stands above a huge magnetic anomaly, and the arrow will dance like clockwork. If you still dare, then take a GPS with you, but if something happens to you, then few people will come to your rescue, even the authorities. For this is the forest where death lives -

suicide forest.

Every year, from 70 to 100 bodies are found here, voluntarily deceased. How many bodies remain unfound is even hard to calculate. It is not yet clear when exactly the “pilgrimage” began, whether it is connected with dark side life and death, but many folk legends it is said that various ghosts, goblins, demons, devils, and other malevolent entities of the collective unconscious live here.

In itself, there is nothing unusual here, any ancient forest acquires an atmosphere of mystery and collects many similar stories. However, in this case, they grew into something more, a kind of feedback to dark places in the human psyche.

The legend that makes many Japanese cringe at the word "Jukai" has its roots in the Middle Ages. In famine years, peasant families, who could not feed the old people and newborns, took them to this forest and left them there to die. But that's not all... Antiquity, as is often the case in Japan, is closely intertwined here with reality. In our time, the forest has become a real magnet for those who have decided to commit suicide. Statistics makes hair move - since the 50s of the last century, the remains of more than five hundred people who voluntarily lost their lives there have been found in Jukai. An impressive figure for a forest of just over 3 hectares. Worldwide more people steps into the abyss only from the Golden Gate Bridge in the USA.

In the 19th century, the forest became a place where poor families left those they could not feed - usually the elderly, the disabled, or very young children. Apparently not all of them died, and their presence in the forest may have contributed to the tales of witches that often appear in modern horror films.

Despite its gloomy past, Jukai still gained notoriety in the 20th century, and Japanese literature made a significant contribution to this. One of the first forest glorified Seycho Matsumoto in the work "Dark Jukai". Then there was the acclaimed book "Detailed Guide to Committing Yourself", which described the forest as "the perfect place" for suicide. By the way, only some time after the release of this creation, two bodies were found in the forest, and with them read copies of this particular book.

At some point, people started committing suicide here. No one knows how long corpses have been piling up here, but in 1970 the police began an annual body search. In the beginning there were few of them, 20-30 per year. In 1990, this number began to rise. In 1994, 57 bodies were found. In 1998, 73. In 2002, 78.

Some people blame it on romance

Seicho Matsumoto (

Seicho Matsumoto), named

Kuroi Jukai (

Black sea of trees). Published in 1978, it tells the story of two young lovers who commit suicide together inside Aokigahara. While this may have contributed to the increase in suicide rates, the book is clearly not responsible for what is happening.

Wave Pagoda (

The Pagoda of Waves), later turned into a television series, also describes the ghost of a woman who committed suicide in Aokigahara, and it is likely that these writers simply played on the feelings that arise at the mention of the forest.

All this has changed in modern times, the forest's reputation making it attractive to depressed young people, a haven for rejected lovers, and other categories of suicidal individuals. Notorious Japanese bestseller

"The Complete Guide to Suicide" (

The Complete Manual of Suicide), written

Wataru Tsurumi (

"great place to die", and this only increased attention to him.

Japan's suicide rate is one of the highest, especially among single young people who work day and night in offices. In fact, young people, right in working suits, take walks along the Aokigahara track without even changing clothes, as they go straight from the office to their future cemetery.

The leaders and law enforcement of the three villages bordering the forest - Narusawa, Ashidawa, and Kamikuishiki - are held responsible by Japanese law for unidentified bodies in their area, and often the bodies wait a long time in Aokigahara before they are discovered, making identification impossible. or extremely complex and expensive. The search party must find the bodies, remove them from the forest, and "dispose of" either by burning or organize a funeral.

For this they receive money from the prefecture

Yamanashi (

Yamanashi), but the task has become so onerous that the costs reach 5 million yen each year (1.5 million rubles). The corpses must be returned from the forest to the local forestry department, where a special room is set aside for their storage - a room with two beds, one for the corpse and one for the forest worker, who must sleep nearby. This is due to the fact that, according to Japanese superstition, the ghost of a prematurely deceased will howl all night and possibly try to carry away the body, since the body of a suicide must remain in the company of his kind. Foresters usually play with each other for the prize of who should sleep with the corpse.

Other side effect of all these suicides are marauders who visit the forests in order to search for the purses of the dead. There are many urban myths about finding huge sums of money, valuable jewelry, credit cards and train tickets. These rumors appeared thanks to the film

Takimoto Tomoyuki(

Takimoto Tomoyuki), named

Jyukai - Sea of Trees Mount Fuji (

Jyukai - The Sea of Trees Behind Mount Fuji) He tells the story of four people who decide to commit suicide in Aokigahara, and on the way he talks about finding hundreds of thousands of yen during filming.

How to get there: Take the Azusa Express (JR Chuo line) from Tokyo Shinjuku Station to Otsuki Station. From there, take the Fujikyuko Express to Kawaguchiko Station. Then take a bus to Aokigahara. And… be careful.