Aokigahara Forest was born in the aftermath of the eruption of Mt. Fuji in the 800s. As the lava around the mountain cooled, an uneven, slope of a forest grew around it. It is nicknamed the "Sea of Trees" because it is green all year long, and looks more like waves than ground. Because of its density and the fact that it rests on volcanic rock, the forest is almost impossible to try and urbanize. Therefore, even in a place as populous and in need of space for housing as Japan, Aokigahara has remained pristine and almost untouched.
Almost.
Aokigahara Forest is the most popular place in Japan to commit suicide. Each year, an average of 100 dead bodies are discovered in the forest, some with suicide notes, others with nothing save their discarded tents or the rope they used to hang themselves. Hanging is the most popular way to die in the forest, followed by taking pills, though that is usually less successful because it takes too long.
I watched a documentary about this and found it quite fascinating. People who go out there to die basically follow a ritual of abandoning the things in their lives. First, of course, they abandoned their vehicles. There are a lot of cars that just sit for months at a time in the parking lot outside of the forest entrance. I can only imagine what those last few seconds in the car are like, when you gather up whatever it is you choose take with you, and know that stepping out of the car is a very serious moment in your life. It is a decision that sets you on a path towards ending things.
The shedding process doesn't stop there. The guide who was taking the film makers through showed how people would drop items, almost like a trail of bread crumbs. A mirror here. A water bottle there. Item after item until finally they had nothing left to hold onto. I wonder what my last item would be. A favorite paperback? A picture of my cats? My mp3 player so I could listen to my favorite songs as I found my hanging tree? What would you take? What would be last on the list of things you would drop?
There are suicide manuals about Aokigahara. They offer strategies on the best way to tie ropes into the limbs of the trees, maps of places where forest officials are less likely to look. Quite often when bodies are discovered, the instruction manuals are close by.
Of course, there are people who seek to stop this. The forest has many signs that try to talk people out of killing themselves. They read one of the signs and it talked about how people should think about their parents and their families, they should find someone to talk to inside of killing themselves. I find this a bit darkly amusing because quite often people who are at the point of killing themselves do not have anyone to talk to or family they can rely on. Seeing signs like that would just depress them more.
If there is anything keeping people from committing suicide, I think it may be the forest itself. I'm not going to try and sell anyone on some nature spirit or something here, though that may be a factor too. No, I'm talking more about just the idea of surrounding yourself with stunningly beautiful nature and having some peace and quiet.
When you go into Aokigahara Forest, you see a lot of strings of tape, like the kind the police use to section things off. Many people who are unsure about killing themselves will tie the tape to a tree near their car and begin to walk out into the woods. They will walk and walk until they find a place they like, then they will set up camp or maybe just sit for a while, and consider their lives.
So there they are, surrounded by all of that wild nature, strange uneven trees that sprang up from the cooling volcanic earth, a thriving environment build on a foundation of a devastating and deadly destructive force. In one hand, a collection of the last items you ever want to touch. In the other hand, tape . . . your connection back to your life. Decisions are weighed. Paths considered. Options analyzed.
For some people, some 100 or so every year, the decision is to end everything in this beautiful place. For others, countless others, the decision is to continue to move forward in this life.
A lot of people would probably disagree with me about this, but I am glad this forest exists. I think the idea of seeing something beautiful and wild, something beyond you, when you die, is a wonderful idea. More over, I think it is important to have a place like this for people to go and weigh their options, to consider what will become of their lives. A forest of options, of death and contemplation, decorated with skulls and lost objects and many colors of tape.
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