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Aokigahara

Coordinates: 35°28′12″N 138°37′11″E / 35.47000°N 138.61972°E / 35.47000; 138.61972
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"Sea of Trees" redirects here. For other uses, see Sea of Trees (disambiguation).

Aokigahara
青木ヶ原 (Japanese)
Aokigahara, the Misaka Mountains and Saiko Lake, as seen from Mount Ryu of the Tenshi Mountains

Aokigahara

Mount Fuji
Locations of Aokigahara and Mount Fuji
Ecology
RealmPalearctic
BiomeTemperate broadleaf and mixed forest
Geography
Area35 km2 (14 sq mi)
CountryJapan
PrefectureYamanashi Prefecture
Coordinates35°28′12″N 138°37′11″E / 35.47000°N 138.61972°E / 35.47000; 138.61972
Conservation
Conservation statusRelatively stable/Relatively intact

Aokigahara (青木ヶ原, 'Blue Tree Meadow'), also known as the Sea of Trees (樹海, Jukai), is a forest on the northwestern flank of Mount Fuji on the island of Honshu in Japan, thriving on 30 square kilometres (12 sq mi) of hardened lava laid down by the last major eruption of Mount Fuji in 864 CE.[1] The western edge of Aokigahara, where there are several caves that fill with ice in winter, is a popular destination for tourists and school trips. Parts of Aokigahara are very dense, and the porous lava rock absorbs sound, contributing to a sense of solitude that some visitors attribute to the forest.[2]

The forest has a historical reputation as a home to yūrei: ghosts of the dead in Japanese mythology. At least since the 1960s, Aokigahara has become associated with suicide, eventually becoming known in English by the nickname "Suicide Forest" and gaining a reputation as one of the world's most-used suicide sites. Because of this, signs at the head of some trails urge suicidal visitors to think of their families and contact a suicide prevention association.

Geography

Aokigahara (left) and Saiko Lake

The forest floor mostly consists of volcanic rock.[3] 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.[4]

Aokigahara has been falsely portrayed as a place where navigational compasses go haywire. Needles of magnetic compasses will move if placed directly on the lava, aligning with the rock's natural magnetism, which varies in iron content and strength by location. However, a compass behaves as expected when held at a normal height.[2] The Japan Ground Self-Defense Force has conducted its Ranger Courses including navigation training in the forest since 1956.[5]

Flora and fauna

Aokigahara maintains a thriving temperate ecosystem, with numerous native plants and animals. Mammals include the Asiatic black bear,[6] Dsinezumi shrew, small Japanese mole,[7] greater horseshoe, greater tube-nosed and eastern long-fingered bats,[1] mice and brown rats,[1] Honshū sika deer, red fox, masked palm civet, wild boar, Japanese badger, dormouse, dwarf flying squirrel, hare, macaque, marten, mink, raccoon dog, serow, shrewmole, squirrel and weasel.[8][9] Birds include great, willow and long-tailed tits, great spotted and Japanese pygmy woodpeckers, bush-warbler, Eurasian jay, warbling white-eye, Japanese, brown-headed and Siberian thrushes, Hodgson's hawk-cuckoo, Japanese grosbeak, lesser and common cuckoos, black-faced bunting and the oriental turtle dove.[8]

Herpetofauna in the region includes the black-spotted frog (Pelophylax nigromaculatus), Japanese five-lined skink (Plestiodon finitimus), Japanese forest ratsnake (Euprepiophis conspicillata), tiger keelback (Rhabdophis tigrinus) and the montane brown frog (Rana ornativentris).

Invertebrates include ground beetles and other insects,[1] including many species of lepidopterans (even within the forest's interior), such as the silver-washed fritillary (Argynnis paphia), Chrysozephyrus smaragdinus, the holly blue (Celastrina argiolus), C. sugitanii, Curetis acuta, Favonius jezoensis, Neptis sappho, Parantica sita and Polygonia c-album are found.[10]

The forest is composed of a variety of conifers and broad-leaved trees and shrubs, including Chamaecyparis obtusa,[10] Cryptomeria japonica,[11] Pinus densiflora and P. parviflora, Tsuga sieboldii, Japanese maples (including Acer distylum, A. micranthum, A. sieboldianum and A. tschonoskii), Betula grossa, Chengiopanax sciadophylloides (or Acanthopanax sciadophylloides or Eleutherococcus), Clethra barbinervis, Enkianthus campanulatus, Euonymus macropterus, Ilex pedunculosa, I. macropoda, Pieris japonica, Prunus jamasakura, Quercus mongolica var. crispula, Rhododendron dilatatum, Skimmia japonica f. repens, Sorbus commixta (or Sorbus americana ssp. japonica) and Toxicodendron trichocarpum (or Rhus trichocarpa).[10] The dominant tree species between 1,000 and 1,800 metres of altitude is Tsuga diversifolia and from 1,800 to 2,200 metres is Abies veitchii.[11]

Deeper in the forest, there are many herbaceous and flowering plants, including Artemisia princeps,[10] Cirsium nipponicum var. incomptum,[12] Corydalis incisa,[10] Erigeron annuus,[12] Geranium nepalense,[12] Kalimeris pinnatifida,[12] Maianthemum dilatatum,[10] Oplismenus undulatifolius[10] and Reynoutria japonica (syn. Polygonum cuspidatum).[10] There are also the myco-heterotrophic Monotropastrum humile,[8] numerous liverworts,[11] mosses[11] and many ferns.[8] Additionally, the forests are outlined with many small annual and perennial species that self-sow along the sunnier fringes, along with young sprouts of the larger trees and shrubs.[12]

Suicides

Aokigahara is sometimes referred to as the most popular site for suicide in Japan.[13][14] In 2003, 105 bodies were found in the forest, exceeding the previous record of 78 in 2002.[15] In 2010, the police recorded 54 confirmed suicides out of more than 200 attempts.[16] Suicides are said to increase during March, the end of the fiscal year in Japan.[13] As of 2011, the most common means of suicide in the forest were hanging or drug overdose.[16] Local officials have stopped publicizing the numbers in an attempt to decrease Aokigahara's association with suicide.[17][failed verification]

The rate of suicide has led officials to place a sign at the forest's entry urging suicidal visitors to seek help and not take their own lives. Annual body searches have been conducted by police, volunteers, and journalists since 1970.[18][19][20]

The site's popularity has been attributed to Seichō Matsumoto's 1961 novel Nami no Tō (Tower of Waves).[21][22] 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 of those left to die.[17]

References in media

Aokigahara is located near Mount Fuji, in Yamanashi Prefecture.

Aokigahara has been referred to in numerous forms of entertainment and documentary media, including anime and manga, films, literature, music lyrics and video games; a drama-mystery film, The Sea of Trees (2015), takes place in the forest, as does American screenwriter Jason Zada's horror film The Forest (2016).

In late 2017, popular American YouTuber Logan Paul, who had earned over 15 million subscribers to his channel by 1 January 2018, uploaded a video in which he and several companions visited Aokigahara in order to document and explore the forest's supposed "creepy" qualities. While filming, the group discovered several personal items, including discarded sleeping bags and clothing, as well as what appeared to be disused campsites. They then unexpectedly came upon the remains of a person who had committed suicide, approaching the corpse and filming (blurring the face of the person, whose identity is a mystery); this video was then uploaded directly to Paul's channel, shocking many and receiving widespread condemnation.[23] One member of the group could be heard saying they did not "feel good" as they viewed the corpse, to which Paul asked, jokingly, if this person had "never stood near a dead guy before".[23] After receiving swift backlash, and even some praise for "raising suicide awareness", Paul stated that he was "misguided by shock and awe"; after removing the video, and filming a subsequent apology, Paul said that he "should have never posted the video" and "should have put the cameras down and stopped recording what we were going through…I'm ashamed of myself…I'm disappointed in myself."[23]

Aokigahara was the subject of a BBC Radio 4 production, broadcast 10 September 2018, in which four poets traveled to the region to write and record poetry.[24] The poets Arai Takako, Jordan A. Y. Smith, Osaki Sayaka, and Yotsumoto Yasuhiro co-authored a bilingual (Japanese/English) anthology of the poems and short writings on Aokigahara, titled Sea of Trees: Poetic Gateways to Aokigahara (ToPoJo Excursions, 2019).[25]

American playwright Kristine Haruna Lee wrote and staged a play, Suicide Forest, in March 2019. It addressed suicide in the United States and in Japan, and references Aokigahara.[26]

Australian psychedelic rock band King Gizzard & the Lizard Wizard were originally named "Sea Of Trees" after Aokigahara.[27] Although the name did not stick, the group would release a song under the same name on their debut album 12 Bar Bruise (2012).

See also

References

  1. ^ a b c d "The nature found in the Aokigahara 'sea of trees'". Yamanashi Kankou. Retrieved 21 January 2017.
  2. ^ a b Harrington, Patrick (22 January 2017). "Hiking in a Forest Born Out of Mount Fuji's Lava". The New York Times. p. TR8.
  3. ^ "Intruders tangle 'suicide forest' with tape". Asahi Svhimbun. 3 May 2008. Archived from the original on 6 May 2008. Retrieved 3 May 2008.
  4. ^ "About Narusawa lce Cave/Fugaku Wind Cave - Mount Fuji Travel Guide". Planetyze. Retrieved 13 November 2017.
  5. ^ Tani, Saburō (1988). Rangers - The Strongest Combatants of the Ground Self Defense Force (in Japanese). Fusosha Publishing. pp. 45–60. ISBN 978-4594002350.
  6. ^ Koike, Shinsuke; Hazumi, Toshihiro (2008). "Notes on Asiatic black bears denning habits in the Misaka Mountains, central Japan" (PDF). Ursus. 19 (1): 80–84. doi:10.2192/1537-6176(2008)19[80:NOABBD]2.0.CO;2. S2CID 56042377. Archived from the original (PDF) on 18 September 2011. Retrieved 27 May 2017.
  7. ^ Tsuchiya, Kimiyuki; Suzuki, Hitoshi; Shinohara, Akio; Harada, Masashi; Wakana, Shigeharu; Sakaizumi, Mitsuru; Han, Sang-Hoon; Lin, Liang-Kong; Kryukov, Alexei P (2000). "Molecular phylogeny of East Asian moles inferred from the sequence variation of the mitochondrial cytochrome b gene". Genes & Genetic Systems. 75 (1): 17–24. doi:10.1266/ggs.75.17. PMID 10846617. Retrieved 27 May 2017.
  8. ^ a b c d "Aokigahara "sea of trees" walking course". Charm of Mt Fuji. Yamanashi Tourism Organization. Retrieved 27 May 2017.
  9. ^ "Observations • iNaturalist". 24 July 2024.
  10. ^ a b c d e f g h Kitahara, Masahiko; Watanabe, Maki (2003). "Diversity and rarity hotspots and conservation of butterfly communities in and around the Aokigahara woodland of Mount Fuji, central Japan". Ecological Research. 18 (5): 503–522. Bibcode:2003EcoR...18..503K. doi:10.1046/j.1440-1703.2003.00574.x. S2CID 25031983. Retrieved 27 May 2017.
  11. ^ a b c d Inoue, Hiroshi (1 December 1981). "Hepaticae of Mt. Fuji, Central Japan" (PDF). Memoirs of the National Science Museum, Tokyo. 14: 59–74. Retrieved 27 May 2017.[permanent dead link]
  12. ^ a b c d e Kitahara, Masahiko; Masahiko, Mitsuko; Kobayashi, Takato (2008). "Relationship of butterfly diversity with nectar plant species richness in and around the Aokigahara primary woodland of Mount Fuji, central Japan". Biodiversity and Conservation. 17 (11): 2713–2734. Bibcode:2008BiCon..17.2713K. doi:10.1007/s10531-007-9265-4. S2CID 5682010. Retrieved 28 May 2017.
  13. ^ a b Lah, Kyung (19 March 2009). "Desperate Japanese head to 'suicide forest'". CNN.com/Asia. Retrieved 10 April 2012. Especially in March, the end of the fiscal year, more suicidal people will come here because of the bad economy. It's my dream to stop suicides in this forest, but to be honest, it would be difficult to prevent all the cases here.
  14. ^ Takahashi, Yoshitomo (1988). "EJ383602 - Aokigahara-jukai: Suicide and Amnesia in Mt. Fuji's Black Forest". Education Resources Information Center (ERIC). Retrieved 20 September 2008.[permanent dead link]
  15. ^ "Aokigahara forest". 14 February 2014.
  16. ^ a b Gilhooly, Rob (26 June 2011). "Inside Japan's 'Suicide Forest'". Japan Times. p. 7.
  17. ^ a b Malinovski, Pejk (30 January 2009). Suicide Forest. Studio 360. WNYC & PRI.
  18. ^ "Japan's harvest of death". The Independent. London. 24 October 2000. Archived from the original on 24 April 2008.
  19. ^ Hadfield, Peter (16 June 2001). "Japan struggles with 69 soaring death toll in Suicide Forest". The Sunday Telegraph. London. Archived from the original on 12 January 2022.
  20. ^ "'Suicide forest' helps skew Yamanashi's statistics". The Japan Times. 9 May 2012. p. 3. Retrieved 9 March 2017.
  21. ^ "Inside Japan's 'Suicide Forest'" Archived 2 December 2022 at the Wayback Machine (The Japan Times, 26 June 2011)
  22. ^ 波の塔〈下〉(文春文庫): 松本 清張: 本 (in Japanese). Tōkyō: Bungeishunjū. 2009. ISBN 978-4167697235.
  23. ^ a b c "Logan Paul: Outrage over YouTuber's dead body video". BBC News. 1 January 2018. Retrieved 1 January 2018.
  24. ^ "The Art of Now: Atmosfears". Art of Now. BBC Radio 4. Retrieved 4 January 2019.
  25. ^ "Excursions 2: Sea of Trees". Tokyo Poetry Journal. ToPoJo Excursions. Retrieved 4 January 2019.
  26. ^ Collins-Hughes, Laura (4 March 2019). "A Family Divide Haunts Heart-Rending 'Suicide Forest'". The New York Times. Retrieved 7 March 2019.
  27. ^ @kinggizzard (5 February 2023). "Sea of trees Native plant Happy magic band some others that turned out were already band names and some others that i forget" (Tweet). Retrieved 9 April 2023 – via Twitter.
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