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The forest of no return

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The birds do not sing in Aokigahara Forest. The only sounds are the snap of branches underfoot and the creaking of the straight and slender tree trunks as they move in the wind that blows down the cold slopes of Mount Fuji; the moss that covers nearly every surface deadens all other noise.

There is a darkness behind the tranquility of this dense and sprawling forest. For decades, Japanese who have tired of life have made one-way pilgrimages to this place. In the past six months, the number of people who have deliberately not come back from the forest appears to have risen.

Japan has a stubbornly high suicide rate, which has been variously blamed on the loneliness of a rapidly urbanising society, the collapse of the traditional nuclear family and the age-old problem of bullying, in schools, universities and the workplace. Several of those who choose to kill themselves have suffered a failed romance or financial problems or, as is increasingly common, seen their company go under.

A long way off one of the poorly defined paths that wind through the trees, a deep hollow has been eroded out of the volcanic rock that flowed down Mount Fuji thousands of years ago and now serves as the uneven and angular floor of the forest. Large boulders have come to rest in the bottom of the gap and a tree has fallen to act as a bridge between the two sides. Four ties - three in conservative shades of blue, the other a more flamboyant red - have been knotted together and attached to the fallen tree. The trailing end rests limply on a mossy rock, still in the shape of a noose. There is no sign of human remains. Local police say animals, primarily foxes and raccoons but also the occasional bear, are attracted by the smell of decaying flesh and make short work of bodies, scattering the bones throughout the forest.

On the far side of the hollow are some of the man's possessions. He brought with him an orange backpack that has been ripped open; three shirts, socks and underpants are strewn around. There is also a cheap plastic hairbrush, two cigarette lighters, a toothbrush, a mobile phone recharger and several empty alcohol bottles. There is not much here to identify him.

Within a one-mile radius, there are at least five other equally pathetic markers of lives lost. The forest covers more than 3,500 hectares and, with the snows of winter freshly melted, there are probably dozens more similar final resting places to be found.

On April 1, the National Police Agency reported that 32,249 people killed themselves in Japan last year, 844 fewer than in the pre- vious year. Optimism at the 2.5 per cent decline was tempered by the fact that the suicide rate had remained above the 30,000 level for the 11th consecutive year and October was the worst month for suicides, with 3,092. Experts point out that October was the month in which the full force of the global economic crisis became apparent in Japan. Statistics indicate that the impact of the crisis will play an increasing part in the suicide rate; the number of people who killed themselves this January stands at 2,645, according to the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare, up sharply from the 2,305 suicides reported in January last year.

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