Aokigahara

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Aokigahara is seen in the lower left corner of this image.

Aokigahara (青木ヶ原, Aokigahara^?), also known as the Sea of Trees (樹海, Jukai^?), is a forest that lies at the base of Mount Fuji in Japan. The caverns found in this forest are rocky and ice-covered, even during summertime. It is an old forest reportedly haunted by many legends of monsters, ghosts, and goblins, (see youkai) which add to its sinister reputation.

The forest floor consists primarily of volcanic rock and is difficult to penetrate with hand tools such as picks or shovels. There are also a variety of unofficial trails that are used semi-regularly for the annual "body hunt" done by local volunteers which mark their search areas with plastic tape. The plastic tape is not removed after each year, so a great deal of it litters the first kilometer of the forest past the designated trails leading to and from known tourist attractions such as the Ice Cave and Wind Cave. After the first kilometer into Aokigahara towards Mount Fuji, the forest is in a much more pristine state, with little to no litter or obvious signs of human contact. On some occasions human remains can be found in the distant reaches of the forest, but these are usually more than a few years old and consist of scattered bones and incomplete skeletons suggesting the presence of scavenging animals.

A very popular myth states that the magnetic iron deposits underground causes compasses to hopelessly malfunction causing travellers to get lost. However this myth is partially false. Japan's Self Defence Force and the US Military regularly run training practices through portions of the forest, during which military grade lensatic compasses have been verified to function properly. However the magnetic fields generated by iron deposits in the forest floor generally cause problems with commercially available compasses^{[citation needed]} - it causes them to have a consistent false reading of south as north. Nevertheless, vehicles, GPS equipment, and other electronic devices function properly regardless.

It is also a popular place for suicides, due in some part to the novel Kuroi Jukai (Black Forest), which ends with the lovers of the novel committing suicide in the forest. In 2002, 78 bodies were found within the forest, replacing the previous record of 73 in 1998.^[1] The high rate of suicide has led officials to place signs within the forest, urging those who have gone there specifically with the purpose of suicide in mind to seek help and not kill themselves. The annual search, consisting of a small army of police, volunteers and attendant journalists, began in 1970.^[2]

Aside from those intended to die in the forest, the dense forest and rugged inaccessibility has also attracted the advanturing of thrill seekers. Many of these hikers marked their travelled routes by leaving coloured plastic tapes behind, causing concerns from prefectural officials with regard to the ecosystem of the forest.^[3]

In 2004, a movie about the forest was released, called 樹の海 (Ki no Umi or Sea of Trees; English Title: Jyukai - The Sea of Trees Behind Mt. Fuji), by the director Takimoto Tomoyuki. It told the story of four different people who decided to end their lives in the forest of Aokigahara. While scouting for shooting locations, Takimoto told reporters that he found a wallet containing 370,000 yen (roughly $3,160 USD), giving rise to the popular rumor that Aokigahara is a treasure trove for scavengers.^[4] Others have claimed to have found credit cards, rail passes, and driver's licenses.