Aokigahara Suicide Forest (青木ヶ原), Near Mount Fuji, Japan

          Aokigahara (青木ヶ原), Suicide Forest, Japan 

Aokigahara Forest known as the World's second most popular place for suicide ( After Golden Gate Bridge ) Japanese people believe the Sea of Trees is hunted by Jurei ( Ghost) that inhabit the sacred forest.  The Lava Forest is known to be a Gateway since it's located just in the outskirts of Mount Fuji Volcano. Ancient Japanese Tales describes the arrival of the Goddess Fuji for the first time to Japan.  There are said to be extremely high levels of Electromagnetic Energy trough the sea of trees. 

The Soil located in the Aokigahara Forest is known to contain high levels of Magnetic Iron, which creates powerful interference with GPS and Cellphones, some people believe , the forest is hunted and that is the cause why many people, wonder of and never return.

          Various signs in Japanese Scattered trough the forest floor 

                                        THE EVIDENCE                                         

I Began my adventure by Adventure by heading to Mount Fuji, one of the most beautiful volcanos in the World, i stayed over night in a traditional Japanese Ryokan ( info at the bottom of the blog ) and explored the surrounding areas of Mount Fuji, this had to be my 10th time at least of visiting Mount Fuji but never had the chance or the will to visit the Suicide Forest until this time.

I started checking online how to reach the forest but there wasn't much information in how to reach the infamous spot on the contrary most blogs and other information material 

    

      "Inside the local bus heading towards the forest" 

As i left the serene and tranquil Train Station at "Kawa-Guchiko no eki" at the foothill of the great Mount Fuji, as i asked for directions to the locals and asked them how to reach the Aokigahara Forest they all stared at me with a nervous eye and a trembling voice of concern, some station agents even went as far as telling me not to go there even thought the place is adjacent to a very famous ice cave, perhaps was my look or as a foreigner Japanese nationals feeling embarrassed of such horrendous but mysterious place?

As i reached the site, there were numerous signs located trough the whole pathway, this eery sense of discomfort started to creep in, another reason why i was here to investigate the presence of the paranormal. 

As i entered the main road i was confronted with a Japanese Sign asking trekkers with life difficulties to rethink their choices, think about family and the pain behind and to look for support, the sign even contains a number with a local help line to call in case of mental and emotional support. 

I entered the forest! Wasn't sure yet what will i find or what to expect but with an open mind and an exciting compass to find the awe and mysterious, as i entered the forest a white thick fog crawled in trough the clouds, sounds of birds with very distinct features almost creepy, at the same time  an almost uncofortable silenced captivated the entire forest. 

As i continued walking, feeling, zoning, spacing out i took a moment to recap and to concentrate a bit more on the surrounding, to feel instead of looking, to stop searching but to be guided, i then saw this two benches rotting into the lava forest with an eery feel to it, i stopped and photographed them but decided not to seat on it due that it started to rain.

I then decided to walk into the forest instead of following the marked pathway, i happened to follow this yellow string, resembling that of police crime scenes, i was curious to know where would it take me and what will happen when....

I happened to ran into a suicide spot, clearly seeing two belts tied to each-other with a clear sign that somebody specifically there hanged him/her self i was in a big wtf state of mind, i never seen such things before, definitely creep the ... out of me. 

Out of all the places i have ever traveled and experienced, Japan would be the least country i would think i'll find remnants of dead bodies, suicide notes, trash left by the suicide person and such. 

I wasn't sure why would officials and park staff would remove the dead body but not the trash and the creepy artifacts that surrounded the victim, Japan being one of the cleanest countries on Earth it was beyond paradoxical that they would not clean this up specially on a spot known to be suicide spot, i wasn't sure if it was due to some Japanese superstition that i wasn't aware of or it was just straight up negligence from authorities or that it was almost left behind to indulge wonderers like me in such experience.

The entire scene was straight out a horror movie, the suicide artifact, the last set of beers before heading to the next dimension, the last supper a shitty tuna sandwich from 7 Eleven, some broken diaries and various packs of cigarettes. 

Rain started to catch in and explorations became difficult due to mud and discomfort from cold and an injured leg at the moment. 

As i started to investigate a bit more i started to creep into a surreal world filled with a sense of sadness and disparity, i found a purse bag and other artifacts nearby the first suicide spot, in less than 10 minutes exploring the first spot i happened to found at least 5 other spots with suicide relics as well as signs of struggle and time passing with cigarette packs and beer bottles. 

I was crazy enough to open the bag, the cat in me couldn't hold back so i looked into the empty bag, obviously there was nothing to be found there, i am sure investigators had remove any signs of evidence to identify the victim again what i didn't understand is why didn't they clean up the crime scene and remove all this stuff?

I followed another yellow cord not knowing where would it take me, i figured this yellow cord was used by police in order to keep other members and rescue team in the same direction avoiding them to get lost into the thick lava forest the advantage of this is that it lead me straight into numerous suicide spots.

I got a bit overwhelmed after being deep in the forest about 1km deep off the main road, after following numerous other ropes and strings, i started to feel unsure to continue into the unmarked path even thought i had this side of me craving to see what else would i discover, i decided to seat and just feel the place and connect to what has happened, as i did this i started feeling a mysterious sensation of emptiness, coldness and a very similar sensation i had while i drowned in the beach in Oaxaca Mexico, this sensation of total emptiness and acceptance to something higher like knowing there is no way out but all you can do is to just accept. 

I never experienced a Lava Forest, it was such interesting terrain and awe mysterious, it felt and looked like straight from the typical scary forest.

The red strings i encountered along the forest leading to deeper suicide spots deep 1km or more into the uncharted forest. 

More creepy signs...

and more.......

With this concludes this chapter into the Aokigahara Forest near the footfills of mount fuji, recently numerous TV Shows like Ancient Aliens and Hollywood movies have popularized the site and with such massive popularity not sure what effect will have in the general population.

Stay tune for my next Blog Post on Asuka Iwafune Gigantic Mysterious Monolith in the Asuka Prefecture Japan. 


Regards,
Guillermo Alarcon
Sunday August, 21st 2016
Merida, Yucatan Mexico