|
|
Article: Japan struggles with soaring death toll in Suicide Forest
- Article from:
- The Sunday Telegraph London
- Article date:
- November 5, 2000
- Author:
CopyrightCopyright 2000 The Sunday Telegraph London. Provided by ProQuest LLC. (Hide copyright information)
|
HUNDREDS of police and volunteer firemen ventured into the
Aokigahara forest in Japan last week, forming a human chain to look
for the bodies of suicide victims.
They discovered four more to add to the 44 already found this
year in what is now regarded as Japan's suicide centre - a dark,
3,500-hectare forest that covers the lower slopes of Mount Fuji.
So many people kill themselves there that local authorities are
now running out of space to store their remains.
"I think everyone has the same reason for choosing this area,"
said a spokesman for Narusawa and Ashiwada, two of the three
villages that border the forest. "It's because of the novel by
Seicho Matsumoto, Kuroi Jukai (Sea of Trees). ...