Editing Mount Fuji (section)

== Aokigahara forest ==
[[File:Mount Ashiwada and Mount Fuji.jpg|thumb|Aokigahara forest with Mount Fuji and Mount Ashiwada]]

The forest at the northwest base of the mountain is named [[Aokigahara]]. Folk tales and legends tell of ghosts, demons, [[yūrei]] and [[yōkai]] haunting the forest, and in the 19th century, Aokigahara was one of many places where poor families abandoned the very young and elderly.<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/asia/japan-s-harvest-death-5368465.html |title=Japan's harvest of death |work=[[The Independent]] |date=October 24, 2000|access-date=November 17, 2023|archive-date=April 10, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210410115751/https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/asia/japan-s-harvest-death-5368465.html |url-status=live}}</ref> Approximately 30 suicides have been counted yearly, with a high of nearly 80 bodies in 2002.<ref>{{cite news |last=Hadfield |first=Peter |author-link=Peter Hadfield (journalist) |url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/asia/japan/1373287/Japan-struggles-with-soaring-death-toll-in-Suicide-Forest.html |title=Japan struggles with soaring death toll in Suicide Forest |work=[[The Daily Telegraph]] |location=UK |date=November 5, 2000|access-date=November 17, 2023|archive-date=January 12, 2022 |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20220112/https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/asia/japan/1373287/Japan-struggles-with-soaring-death-toll-in-Suicide-Forest.html |url-status=live|url-access=limited}}</ref> The recent increase in suicides prompted local officials to erect signs that attempt to convince individuals experiencing suicidal intent to re-think their desperate plans, and sometimes these messages have proven effective.<ref>{{cite news |url=http://www.yomiuri.co.jp/dy/national/20080224TDY03303.htm |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080302060053/http://www.yomiuri.co.jp/dy/national/20080224TDY03303.htm|url-status=dead |archive-date=March 2, 2008 |title=Sign saves lives of 29 suicidal people |work=[[Yomiuri Shimbun]] |date=February 24, 2008}}</ref> The numbers of suicides in the past creates an allure that has persisted across the span of decades.<ref>{{cite journal |last=Takahashi |first=Yoshitomo|title=Aokigahara-jukai: Suicide and Amnesia in Mt. Fuji's Black Forest |journal=Suicide and Life-Threatening Behavior |volume=18 |issue=2 |pages=164–175 |date=Summer 1988 |pmid=3420643 |doi=10.1111/j.1943-278X.1988.tb00150.x}}</ref><ref>{{Cite magazine|last=Davisson |first=Jack |url=http://www.seekjapan.jp/article-1/767/The+Suicide+Woods+of+Mt.+Fuji |title=The Suicide Woods of Mt. Fuji |date=February 25, 2021 |magazine=[[Japanzine]]|access-date=March 15, 2008 |archive-date=July 16, 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110716202740/http://www.seekjapan.jp/article-1/767/The+Suicide+Woods+of+Mt.+Fuji |url-status=live }}</ref>

Many hikers mark their routes by leaving colored plastic tape behind as they pass, raising concern among prefectural officials about the forest's ecosystem.<ref>{{cite web|last=Okado|first=Yuki|url=http://www.asahi.com/english/Herald-asahi/TKY200805020328.html|title=Intruders tangle 'suicide forest' with tape|work=[[The Asahi Shimbun]]|date=May 3, 2008|access-date=May 3, 2008|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080506060315/http://www.asahi.com/english/Herald-asahi/TKY200805020328.html|archive-date=May 6, 2008|url-status=dead}}</ref>