Ricardo Furtado - 101 Facts Or Fiction--Aokigahara--Legalizing Suicide?

"Suicide may also be regarded as an experiment - a question which man puts to Nature, trying to force her to answer. The question is this: What change will death produce in a man's existence and in his insight into the nature of things? It is a clumsy experiment to make; for it involves the destruction of the very consciousness which puts the question and awaits the answer." - Arthur Schopenhauer (German philosopher. Born: February 22nd, 1788, Gdask, Poland. Died: September 21st, 1860, Frankfurt, Germany.)

Today, innocent people are travelling miles, even from all over the globe, all the way to Japan, to kill themselves, willingly!

At Aokigahara!

Why?

Here are 101 Facts or Fiction about Aokigahara. You decide which the truth is and which not. You decide why people go in to Aokigahara and sometimes never come out!

1. If you want to commit suicide and not be worried about the police or anyone else taking legal action against you, you can head for the 'The Perfect Place to Die' Aokigahara.

1. The suicide rate in Japan, is said to be the 6th highest in the world now that more and more people are becoming aware of Aokigahara, soon Japan could become the 'Suicide Capital' in the world.

1. In Japan, for women between the ages of 15 34, suicide is the #1 cause of death.

1. Lying on the northwest side of Mount Fuji in Japan, occupying 12 square miles (30 square kilometers), is a forest dense with trees, known as 'The Sea of Trees' or Aokigahara.

1. Aokigahara is also known as 'The Suicide Forest', as over the years, an untold number of people have come here to commit suicide.

1. People willingly walk in to Aokigahara, without having any intentions of walking out.

1. Aokigahara is situated in the Minamitsuru District, close to the town of Fujikawaguchiko. Japan has an extremely good railway network. So getting to Aokigahara is really very easy. All one has to do is hop on a train and catch the Fujikyuko train line. But it is easier and quicker to get to Aokigahara by car and there are road signs all over, guiding one how to get there. These road signs are in English too.

1. Today, Aokigahara has become one of the 'Top Suicide Destinations' in the world. Yes, people from all over the world come here just to commit suicide.

1. Just how many people commit suicide in Aokigahara in a day? In a week? In a month? In a year? Over the centuries? Nobody knows the exact figures. This is because the forest is so thick with trees, that corpses can go undetected for many years perhaps even centuries.

"T o run away from trouble is a form of cowardice and, while it is true that the suicide braves death, he does it not for some noble object but to escape some ill." Aristotle (Greek philosopher and scientist. Born: 384 BC, Stagira. Died: 322 BC, Chalcis, Greece.)

1. Japan has now become infamous for having the 2nd most popular place in the globe where people can go and commit suicide Aokigahara. The first one being the Golden Gate Bridge (USA).

1. Curiously, it is 'normal' for a person to want to commit suicide in Japan, in fact it is even honorable in the case of Seppuku, also known as Harakiri.

1. Aokigahara is situated at the base of a mountain, as such, the ground over here is very rocky and extremely uneven. There are also 100s of caves that riddle the base of the mountain at which Aokigahara is located.

1. Seppuku or Harakiri, according to Japanese tradition, is considered to be an honorable way to put an end to one's life.

1. Seppuku or Harakiri is part of the Bushido Samurai code. It is known as the way of the warrior the Samurai. This code was not only meant for the Samurai but for everyone, as this Bushido Samurai code was supposed to make anyone who follows it a 'truer person'.

1. The Bushido Samurai code imposed many restrictions on the Samurai, in order for them to be able to live a 'very pure and honest life'.

"T he thought of suicide is a great consolation: by means of it one gets through many a dark night." - Friedrich Nietzsche (German philosopher, philologist, composer, Greek and Latin scholar. Born: October 15th, 1844, Rcken, Germany. Died: August 25th, 1900, Weimar, Germany.)

1. Unlike as is told in many films and stories, the Samurai were not mercenaries who went about roaming Japan, killing people mercilessly (Supposedly so, at least!), just because they were hired and paid by some Japanese warlord, to do so. These Samurai were duty-bound only to a specific daimyo a Japanese lord. And they were bound by a code of honor, known as the Bushido Samurai code. Bushido originates from the word 'Bushi' meaning 'warrior'.

1. Though many people have committed suicide over the centuries in Aokigahara, till now dead bodies of many people have not been found. It is said that this is due to the denseness of Aokigahara also known as 'The Forest of Trees'. But is this the only reason why these dead bodies have not been found? Or are there other reasons?

1. The atmosphere within Aokigahara, is one of eerie silence. Does this eerie silence lure people to commit suicide?

1. The Bushido Samurai code is considered to be Japanese society's 'basic code of conduct'.

1. When lost in Aokigahara, it is almost impossible to use a cell phone and call for help, as the soil in this place has a very rich magnetic iron content, creating hell with GPS services, cell phones and for that matter, even a compass.

1. Not only is the Bushido Samurai code practiced by the Samurai, but also by many people in Japan, who are not Samurai many common Japanese people, from ordinary walks of life.

1. When people patrolling Aokigahara looking for dead bodies, happen to come across a dead body, they then have to take that body all the way down to the local police station. There is a special room in the police station that has been reserved for bodies found in Aokigahara.

1. Many people who go into Aokigahara, suddenly burst out crying. They just cry and cry uncontrollably till they finally stop crying.

"At great periods you have always felt, deep within you, the temptation to commit suicide. You gave yourself to it, breached your own defenses. You were a child. The idea of suicide was a protest against life; by dying, you would escape this longing for death." - Cesare Pavese (Italian poet, literary critic and novelist.

Born: September 9th, 1908, Santo Stefano Belbo, Italy. Died: August 27th, 1950, Turin, Italy.)

1. The entrance to Aokigahara lies close to Lake Sai Bat Cave, a Natural Monument of Japan.