Aokigahara Forest

Aokigahara is a dense woodland spread across roughly thirty square kilometres at the north-western base of Mount Fuji, in Yamanashi Prefecture. It grew on the hardened lava flow left by a major eruption of Fuji in the year 864, which is why its floor is uneven volcanic rock threaded with roots, and why parts of it are strikingly quiet. The forest contains lava caves, including ice and wind caves open to visitors, and forms part of the scenic area around the Fuji Five Lakes, a landscape long valued in Japanese culture.

Aokigahara has, sadly, also become widely known through media coverage of deaths that have occurred there, a serious and sensitive subject that deserves compassion rather than sensationalism. Older folklore associates the woods with spirits, but such tales are cultural tradition, not fact, and it is important not to reduce a real place, and real human loss, to a horror story.

Approached with respect, Aokigahara is first and foremost a remarkable natural environment: a young forest on volcanic terrain, home to well-marked hiking trails and geological features that draw naturalists and walkers to the foot of Japan's most famous mountain.

Aokigahara is a real, publicly accessible forest with maintained hiking trails and show caves near the Fuji Five Lakes; established routes and the ice and wind caves are open to visitors, some by modest paid entry, and are best enjoyed in daylight. Signposted paths connect car parks, caves and viewpoints.

Visitors should stay strictly on marked trails, as the lava terrain and uniform woodland make it easy to lose one's way, and should carry water and check the weather. Above all, the forest deserves quiet, respectful conduct; it is a place of natural beauty and, for some, of grief, not a site for thrill-seeking or intrusion.