Aokigahara: The Forest of Suicide

At the base of Mt. Fuji lies a small(14sq miles) and dense forest that is renown around Japan and around the world as a popular place for people to commit suicide.  One step into the forest and the air grows silent and noticeably colder than the temperature outside.  Few animals choose to call the forest home, even prey animals which could easily take advantage of the dense cover and ample hiding places from predators.  The calls from a few carrion birds can be heard, but the chirping and singing of birds that is common on the outlaying areas of the forest quickly stop once one is only a few hundred feet into the forest.

This forest has become home to over 2,000 suicides since the 1960's when Japanese officials started to keep statistics after the book Nami No To by Seicho Matsumoto had the novel's two protagonists commit suicide within the forest and attracted more attention to the forest's whispered reputation.  The forest was used for ubasute(abandoning the elderly or infirm and allowing them to die especially during times of drought or famine) since the 1800's according to local lore.
The suicides have become such a problem that Japanese officials have started to do "body sweeps" every year in order to find and remove the remains of those who have chosen to end their lives within the forest.  The last numbers were published in 2003 with 123 people choosing to end their lives.  The local government has stopped publishing numbers and has tried to keep the times of the body sweeps quiet as to keep attention off of the forest.
 The people who do the sweeps also have to contend with tourists that come to the forest every year to visit the two caves located within a km of the entrance to the forest.  Many tourists make their own unofficial trails with tape so that they don't get lost within the forest once they start exploring.  Over 31 bodies have been reported to the local authorities within the past five years with one person choosing to take their own life within the ice cave.
The first kilometer or so of the forest is where human activity is the most present with humans rarely venturing  in deeper towards Mt. Fuji.  This has lead to problems for authorities as people wishing to commit suicide have started to venture in deeper to the forest where Yurei(dark spirits of the abandoned ones) are said to reside.
The few who have ventured deeper into the forest have said to hear whispering voices through the trees.  One man who ventured deep into the woods to commit suicide decided against it when he ventured into a makeshift shelter that had a pile of human remains scattered within and said, "I want to have dignity in death not to be discovered by wanderers."
Despite signs posted in English and Japanese begging those who enter the forest with the intent of killing themselves, the suicides still occur.  Why this forest is a hotspot for people who want to commit suicide is open to debate.