In our discovery section, you can find an intruiging article on Aokigahara, the second most popular suicide destination in the world. This forest in Japan rarely see's people leave alive, but we spoke to photographer Jake Baggaley about his surreal experience.

 

How did you hear about Aokigahara?

 I heard about it on a Blog ‘Cracked’ I think the article was ’10 most haunted places on earth’ or something along those lines.. I do quite a lot of my project research online and keep a note of anywhere that sounds remotely interesting. The forest got my attention because of the contrast between thisBeautifully picturesque area and what it had become renowned for. The more research i did the more it sounded like there were some fantastic visual signs of what went on her hidden within the trees.

 

What made you go to the forest?

 

I decided to travel there and shoot a photo series for my Final Year project at Uni (Commercial Photography AUB) By this point I had done quite a bit of research and was very interested to see it for myself. I have actually done quite a bit of research on ‘Dark tourism’ or the reasons people are attracted to places where bad things have happened (the killing fields in Cambodia, Auschwitz in Poland etc..) I think really I was hoping it would make a good story, and to raise awareness of this fascinating yet dark place, and the issues of cultural attitudes towards Suicide in Japan.

 

Did you go alone?

 

I was alone, I traveled to the forest with a Large format camera, a big heavy camera that forces you to think very hard about every photo you take. i thought it was important to be alone so that i could focus entirely on the project and my surroundings.

 

What did you expect before going?

 

I had spoken to a photographer who had traveled there before and he had given me a bit of advice, sensationalist articles online claim the Volcanic rock that forms the forest floor means that compasses don’t work and that it is very easy to get lost, this isn’t true, but this kind of information about the forest (mostly just trying to make it seem more scary than it is) certainly didn’t help with my expectations. I went Mid January, so i knew it would be snowy, and i knew the forest was dense and easy to get lost in.. I had tried not to think about weather i would find a body, the statistics for the amount of people who kill themselves here are so high that its almost over one a day.. so the chances were pretty high being there for a month, though it is a huge area… I think i was unsure what to expect, how much of what i read was true or if i would find anything at all.. i don’t think i expected it to be as physically and mentally dificult as it was!

 

 

What was it like? 

 

The forest was huge, and dense, because it had grown through the rock from an eruption from mt Fuji thousands of years ago, trees jutted out in every direction, and after a few hundred meters you couldn’t here anything other than the animals inside the forrest. My base camp was by Lake Kawiguchiko, a popular tourist destination in summer but deserted in these off seasons, with the beautiful backdrop of Mt Fuji, it was a complete contrast to the kind of things that went on in the forest. there was a surprising amount of artefacts and interesting signs of what went on within the forest, camera at the entrance to the forest, signs warning people not to commit suicide and to look out for others. the infamous trails of ribbon left by the suicide search crews, which were a particularly visual representation of what happens here, and something i chose to use a a focus for my photographs. I found more nooses than i can count hung up in trees, made of rope, or electrical wire… some cut and broken, some in tact. I also Found a loaded Gun, and Empty collapsed Tents… no bodies tho.. thankfully

 

Can you give a brief description of your time there?

 

My daily routine would be to get the tourist bus up the mountains and walk into the forest, different stops each day, and occasionally walking my way there. I would photograph all day, walking around, searching for anything that looked interesting or stood out as a little odd, and sometimes just how beautiful the forest looked as a contrast. it was pretty slow going, with the snow and the rocky terrain, and my camera made it even slower. It gave me a lot of time to think about the issues here and what i was doing here, It was depressing and i soon became disillusioned about my project, and the thought that i was walking around looking for artefacts of others misfortune, I wondered what i would do if i found a body, and how it would make me feel.. luckily i never had to deal with that outside my thoughts.

 

 

The forest is the second most popular suicide destination in the world; was this something that was obvious when walking through the forest?

 

The most popular, and infant the next most popular after Aokigahara suicide destinations are popular due to there practicality, High places, where people can throw themselves off, the Golden Gate Bridge, Beachy Head in the UK etc… The forest is unique in the way that its not an easy place to die, you can’t just go there and die (tho there are stories of people just walking into the dense forest in the winter and freezing to death) I think this is partly due to the japanese attitude towards taking your own life, it is seen less as a cowardy way out and more as a noble thing to do, if you can’t earn enough money to support your family, or if you have become a burden on your family. In Japanes history during a nationwide famine, the family became a place renowned for elderly family members committing suicide to elevate the families of the extra mouth to feed. There is a famous japanese fiction book, where at the end the couple commit suicide in the forrest, and it is also featured in ‘The complete manual to suicide’ a controversial Japanese book (again a reflection of there attitudes to suicide!)

 

Was there any sense of morbidity?

 

Definitley, though, with things like this its hard to know how much of it is a mental thing.. i knew what was there and the things that i had found.. and that was all very morbid.

 

Did you see many other people in the forest? If yes, who?

A few, Walking around Japanese tourists mostly swell as the forest caretaker. there are actually some famous caves in the entrance to the forest which are a tourist attraction in the summer, and trails run through the less dense butter parts, so its not uncommon to see people walking around. within the actual depths of the forrest off the trails ididn't see anybody else. 

 

How would you describe the forest in three words?

Huge, Beautiful, Sad

 

What do you think it is about Aokigahara that makes people choose it as a suicide destination?

I guess when anything gets popular in this way its going to catch on, it is a beautiful place, and a spiritual place (being near mt fuji) i can’t really say what brings so many people here.. but i can think of worse places to see as your last sight. what is interesting is that a lot of people coming here would have to travel quite a long way to get here, which gets rid of any kind of spontaneity in the suicide. like i mentioned before, its not exactly a practical place to do it… very strange..

 

The forest is relatively unheard of, would you recommend others to go? Why?

By all means, the area is incredible and it really is somewhere that has to be seen to be believed.. i wouldn’t recommend spending a month there, a day is probably enough. and certainly don’t believe everything you read online about it. i would recommend anyone to go to japan, and to the Mt Fuji region..