Aokigahara
Aokigahara also known as the Suicide Forest or Sea of
Trees is a 35-square-kilometer (14 sq mi) forest that lies at Mount Fuji's
northwest base in Japan.
The forest contains a large number of rocky icy caverns, a few of which are
popular tourist destinations. Aokigahara forest is very dense, shutting out all
but the natural sounds of the forest itself.[1] The
forest has a historic association with "yūrei" or angry ghosts of the dead
in Japanese mythology, and it is a notoriously common suicide site (in which 54
took place in 2010). For this reason, a sign at the head of the main trail urges
suicidal visitors to think of their families and contact a suicide
prevention association.
The forest is reportedly the most popular site for suicide in Japan and among
the top three most popular sites for suicide in the world. Statistics vary, but
there were around 30 suicides documented every year during the period leading up
to 1988.
In 2003, 105 bodies were found in the forest, exceeding the previous record
of 78 in 2002. In 2010, it was estimated that more than 200 people had attempted
suicide in the forest, of whom 54 completed the act. Suicides are said to
increase during March, the end of the fiscal year in Japan. As of 2011, the most
common means of suicide in the forest were hanging or drug overdose. In recent
years, local officials have stopped publicizing the numbers in an attempt to
downplay Aokigahara's association with suicide.
The high rate of suicide has led officials to place a sign at the forest's
entry, written in Japanese, urging suicidal visitors to seek help and not take
their own lives. Annual body searches have been conducted by police, volunteers,
and attendant journalists since 1970.
The site's popularity has been attributed to Seichō Matsumoto's 1960
novel Kuroi Jukai (Black Sea of Trees). However, the history of
suicide in Aokigahara predates the novel's publication, and the place has long
been associated with death: ubasute may have been practiced there into
the nineteenth century, and the forest is reputedly haunted by
the yūrei(angry spirits) of those left to die.
1 comments:
Write commentsIf you wish to go out and enjoy nature you need to go through plenty of neighborhoods and industrialized areas before you get to a location that hasn't been inhabited by humans. When anyone are interested in the perfect nature sounds, their initial impulse is typically to get a setting or several settings that consist of rain inside them. If you are curious to know more about nature sounds tv, visit this site right here.
ReplyEmoticonEmoticon