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Aug 31 2010 13 Comments

A struggle through Aokigahara Jukai (the Sea of Trees)

Situated as it is on the northwestern slope of Fuji-san, and next to a couple of the mountain’s famed five lakes, Aokigahara Jukai (the Sea of Trees) would be incredibly well known anyway, as its vast and volcanic rock strewn landscape make it a very unique place indeed.

However, due to the area being well documented as a place where a disturbingly large number of people go to commit suicide — 78 and 100 in 2002 and 2003 respectively — it is infamy rather than its deserved fame that the the Sea of Trees is now undoubtedly saddled with.

So it’s perhaps not surprising then that when visiting the forest, these preconceptions are incredibly difficult to shake off, with even standard road signs.

Aokigahara Jukai (Sea of Trees)

And especially decaying wooden ones, becoming suddenly symbolic — strangely sinister even.

Aokigahara Jukai (Sea of Trees)

Yet when entering the area on one of the many well maintained tracks, it quickly becomes apparent that such stories aside, it is a stunningly beautiful place. Yes it’s very quiet due to a noticeable lack of birds and the like, but the colours and unusual silence create a quite incredible atmosphere. A sense, and indeed scenery, that these photos sadly do very little to recreate.

Aokigahara Jukai (Sea of Trees)

Opting to leave the trail, however, and head off into the trees and volcanic debris is without doubt a very different experience. The beauty is still there, arguably even more so, but loose rocks and damp rotting vegetation make for very difficult progress indeed. Plus all the directional changes needed to try and plot a way through mean that it’s very easy to quickly lose almost all sense of direction.

Aokigahara Jukai (Sea of Trees)

But knowing how dense the forest can be, and having heard rumours about compasses not working in there, I’d took the precaution of setting up a tracking app on my phone. Unfortunately, part way in it appeared to have stopped working, due to what I mistakenly put down to a lack of reception, leaving us to plough on regardless in the direction we thought, and increasingly hoped, was the right one.

A decision that was perfectly fine, until we came across this discarded jacket.

Aokigahara Jukai (Sea of Trees)

Then sometime later a whisky bottle.

Aokigahara Jukai (Sea of Trees)

And finally a human bone.

Aokigahara Jukai (Sea of Trees)

All of which, with the added worries of having almost no water left, spiders galore, and missteps sometimes causing us to sink down all the way to our knees, made the forest seem a very different place indeed.

Aokigahara Jukai (Sea of Trees)

One where beauty didn’t seem to really figure anymore. Quite the opposite in fact. As what may well have been something to marvel at only a little while before, now became something to maybe even move away from.

Aokigahara Jukai (Sea of Trees)

Thankfully though, things didn’t feel unpleasant for too long, as it turned out the aforementioned app was actually tracking us after all. And although a lack of water was far from ideal, we at last knew where we were going, along with the reassuring knowledge that despite the terrain, the trail we came in on really wasn’t that far away at all.

Which, all in all, made for an interesting, if a little unsettling and somber at times, few hours. And, whilst it didn’t exactly change my image of the forest in some ways, it did allow me to see it in an added new light — namely one of beauty and almost breathtaking serenity.

Finally, for anyone interested, the map of where we wandered is here:

Aokigahara Jukai at EveryTrail

Categorized: Photography

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Mike says

    8/31/2010 at 1:41 pm

    Great post Lee. I’ve been interested in visiting this forest for a long time, so very jealous you got there and even more so that you have the tools to navigate it! An iphone certainly comes in handy eh? Hope I get the chance in the future to brave it out there :).

    Reply
    • Lee says

      8/31/2010 at 5:10 pm

      Thanks Mike!

      It’s certainly a place that’s well worth visiting. And yes, the Phone did come in handy, although we’ d have certainly got out of there without it. That said, it would have taken quite a bit longer, and having no water left, as well as not really being dressed appropriately, would have meant an increasingly unpleasant experience.

      Reply
  2. Natalie deLapins says

    8/31/2010 at 2:21 pm

    So breathtaking. Your photos managed to evoke emotions without me even being there. I’ve only drive past.

    Reply
    • Lee says

      8/31/2010 at 5:12 pm

      Thanks Natalie! You should stop next time. The various trails mean you can be in there for as short or long a time as you want.

      Reply
  3. C says

    8/31/2010 at 5:03 pm

    wow….talk about giving me shivers! great work as always

    Reply
    • Lee says

      8/31/2010 at 5:16 pm

      Cheers C. Having seen some really quite unpleasant images on the internet of what other people have come across, finding the jacket gave me the shivers too, as I feared there could be something much worse further on…

      Reply
  4. Jason says

    8/31/2010 at 5:48 pm

    Spoooooooooooooooooky! Nice pictures!

    Reply
    • Lee says

      8/31/2010 at 9:39 pm

      Thanks Jason!

      Reply
  5. Willy says

    8/31/2010 at 7:15 pm

    Thats great Lee. I have often heard of that place, but never had any idea at all of what it looked like “from the inside…”
    Your curious adventuring continues as always! In spite of/or because of ( I can’t decide which…) the creepiness!
    Cheers,
    Willy

    Reply
    • Lee says

      8/31/2010 at 9:45 pm

      Cheers Willy. I’d been once before, but only briefly, so this was a chance to finally explore it a bit more thoroughly. And, I must admit, it was the forest’s famed creepiness/dark side that prompted the trip out there.

      Reply
  6. Lizzy says

    8/31/2010 at 11:00 pm

    Fantastic post. Nothing quite like wandering “aimlessly” through the woods. Made even better with colors not often seen here in Texas. 🙂 Perhaps if I’d had an iPhone in high school I wouldn’t have gotten so lost so many times myself. lol

    Reply
    • Lee says

      9/1/2010 at 6:46 pm

      Thanks Lizzy. Yes, the colours were pretty special. My previous brief visit was around autumn I think, and although the humidity was pretty unpleasant, a summer visit was definitely worth it for the incredible ‘greenness’ of everything.

      Reply
  7. Tornadoes28 says

    9/2/2010 at 5:19 am

    You’re braver than me. I don’t think I’d wanna go there. That’s some scary shit.

    Reply

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