Aokigahara in popular culture

Aokigahara is frequently featured in popular culture due to its historic association with "yūrei" or ghosts of the dead in Japanese mythology and is a notoriously common suicide site (wherein 54 took place in 2010).[1] The forest is said to be the world’s second most popular suicide spot, the first being the Golden Gate Bridge.[2]

The rate of suicide has led officials to place a sign at the forest's entry, written in Japanese, urging suicidal visitors to seek help and not take their own lives. Annual body searches have been conducted by police, volunteers, and attendant journalists since 1970.[3]

This page lists Aokigahara in popular culture from both within Japan and abroad. It is not an exhaustive list of the many games, films, manga and other cultural products that mention Aokigahara.

Anime and manga
  • In the anime series Tokyo Ghoul, the ghoul-only Cafe Anteiku uses bodies from Aokigahara to feed ghouls to avoid actively killing humans for nourishment.[4]

Films
  • The 2015 film The Sea of Trees with Matthew McConaughey, Ken Watanabe and Naomi Watts also tells a story happening in this forest.
  • In the American film The Forest (2016), a woman (played by Natalie Dormer) travels to a ghost-filled Aokigahara to save her twin sister (also played by Dormer).[5]

Games
  • In the fighting game Akatsuki Blitzkampf, the protagonist Akatsuki's stage is set in the bank of Lake Sai and the beginning of Aokigahara.[6]

Literature

(Alphabetical by author's surname)

  • Suicide Forest (World's Scariest Places) by Jeremy Bates is a 2015 horror novel that takes place inside the forest.[7]
  • The Three: A Novel by Sarah Lotz is a 2014 novel that features Aokigahara as a place where several characters perished, either in plane crashes or by choice.[8]
  • Nami no Tō (Tower of Waves) by Seichō Matsumoto is a 1960 novel that refers to the popularity of the forest as a suicide spot.[9]
  • The Sea of Trees by Yannick Murphy is a 1997 novel about a young girl detained in an isolation camp during World War II.[10]
  • The Pine Islands by Marion Poschmann is a 2017 German novel featuring the forest as well as numerous other infamous suicide spots in Japan. [11]

Music
  • The 2016 EP Grey Sheep II by New Orleans rap duo Suicideboys contains a track called "Aokigahara".[12]
  • The album Aokigahara (2014) by Austrian black metal band Harakiri for the Sky was named after the forest.[13]
  • The idol group Bis romped around nude in the forest in a controversial video for their single "My Ixxx" (2011).[14]
  • "Aokigahara" (2015) by dark ambient musician Flowers for Bodysnatchers was inspired by and named after the forest.[15]

Other media

References
  1. Gilhooly, Rob (26 June 2011). "Inside Japan's 'Suicide Forest'". Japan Times. p. 7.
  2. Takahashi, Yoshitomo (1988). "EJ383602 - Aokigahara-jukai: Suicide and Amnesia in Mt. Fuji's Black Forest". Education Resources Information Center (ERIC). Retrieved September 20, 2008.
  3. "Kyodo News: 'Suicide forest' helps skew Yamanashi's statistics". Japan Times. May 9, 2012. p. 3.
  4. "A Review of Tokyo Ghoul". Ahotaku39. Retrieved 2 January 2018.
  5. BENARDELLO, KAREN. "Interview: David S. Goyer Talks The Forest (Exclusive)". Shockya. Retrieved 9 February 2016.
  6. "Akatsuki Blitzkampf Character Guide". mare's blog. Retrieved 17 February 2018.
  7. Bates, Jeremy (February 23, 2015). Suicide Forest (World's Scariest Places) (First; Hardcover ed.). Ghillinnein Books. ISBN 978-0993764684.
  8. Lotz, Sarah (May 20, 2014). The Three: A Novel (First; Hardcover ed.). Little, Brown and Company. ISBN 978-0316242905.
  9. Seichō Matsumoto (2009). Nami no Tō (Tower of Waves). Tōkyō: Bungeishunjū. ISBN 978-4167697228. ASIN 416769722X.
  10. Murphy, Yannick (May 14, 1997). The Sea of Trees (First; Hardcover ed.). Houghton Mifflin. ISBN 978-0395850121.
  11. Marion Poschmann (2017). Die Kieferninseln (The Pine Islands). Berlin: Suhrkamp Verlag. ISBN 978-1788160926. ISBN 9783518427606.
  12. "GREY SHEEP II". SoundCloud. Retrieved 17 February 2018.
  13. "Harakiri for the Sky - Aokigahara - Encyclopaedia Metallum: The Metal Archives". Retrieved 17 March 2019.
  14. "Idol unit BiS causes a stir with 'nude' PV for their first single, "My Ixxx"". tokyohive. Retrieved 8 December 2017.
  15. Flowers for Bodysnatchers - Aokigahara, 3 November 2015
  16. "Logan Paul: Outrage over YouTuber's dead body video". BBC News. 2018-01-01. Retrieved 2018-01-01.
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