FERMER

/portrait

Among the personal belongings left behind, often a copy of a book called the Complete Manual of Suicide is found. Published in 1993 and written by Wataru Tsurumi, it describes Aokigahara as ‘the perfect place to die. It is said that the book still inspires many people to take their lives in Aokigahara. However, the history of suicide there predates the publication of this novel. It is widely assumed that the suicides began after the novel ‘Kuroi Jukai’ by Seicho Matsumoto was published in 1960, in which a pair of young lovers commits suicide in Aokigahara. 

Also, the area has long been steeped in japanese mythology. The dim forest was thought to be haunted by demons and ghosts who prowled the landscape and terrified travelers. It is also believed that it was once a popular place for the practice of ubasute, a custom in which a sick or elderly relative was allegedly abandoned in a desolate location and left to die. In the case of Aokigahara, it was said that the victims of ubasate here became vengeful ghosts. The question is: do these legends still influene young japanese to commit suicide? How's the situation regarding suicide in Japan nowadays? Do the practice of harakiri (samurai suicide), very common in medieval Japan, still impacts present society? 

Following interviews with experts (in short videos that follow the information given in the text and appear as you scrool down) we'd look into suicide in a more practical way. What are the statistics? Interactive data boards would give the numbers and the idea of how suicide affects people nowadays and finally, how the government sees it. Wich leads us to the last chapter: the actions. 

/the forest

For the second part of the piece we go into the forest as we finished the first chapter with our character getting there to finally end his/her life. The question to be answered here is "why?". Why choosing this specific place? What does it mean, what are the symbols behind it? To explain this we need to actually get into the forest, to understand the ambiance, what it's like once you've penetrated it. Aokigahara is so dense, the trees so overwhelming that it is impossible to hear any noise from outside it. A few meters in and you're swalloed by it. So video is ideal to give the reader an idea of being trapped, capturing sound and the images to give the viewer an idea of the ambiance. The idea for the subject came from a Vice documentary about the Aokigahara but I felt there were more to explore. However, I am using it as a reference only for visual purposes.

Actually the forest's name is Aokigahara but is more commonly known as "Jukai" wich translates to "sea of trees" because of the way it looks when looked from the Mount Fuji. The tracks are visited by many tourists every year who have developped the habit of unravelling a plastic tape to mark their path since getting lost in Aokigahara is very easy - it is said that because it grew over volcanic rock campasses don't work there. So often once you go off the tracks and find plastic tapes they lead to bodies or even personal belongings left by suicide victims.

*On Infogram it was impossible to add a map of Japan without paying for a subscription. The data and values are figurative and are not object of any research. The same apply to the fonts, with would be different in the infographics. 

/the myth

For the piece about the Sea of Trees and suicide in modern japanese society the idea is to have the narrative arch based on a portrait. So finding a character (and its family) is paramount for the development of the story. We would begin presenting this character and specifically the day this person took it's own life, in the forest. What lead him/her there? How long has he/she stayed there before taking his/her own life? Where were he/she days before the suicide? In terms of investigation, the idea is to recreate a path that leads to the forest and the day.

The choice of pictures with long captions is to first engage the reader in a very visual subject matter, since we're dealing with an online user, easily distracted and a lot of text is not often inviting (specially on mobile). The inspiration comes mostly from the CNN article about suicide among american war veterans  (http://cnn.it/1mcy2Oj). 

/the actions

Figures are difficult to come by due to the Japanese government ceasing to report the number of deaths in an attempt to downplay the forests suicidal association and discourage others from taking their lives here. Authorities sweep the forest for bodies annually for it is far too dense to patrol more frequently, therefore the chances of tourists or passerbys to stumble on a dead body.  

In an attempt to reduce suicides in the forest, signs are put up by police and volunteers with messages such as ‘your life is a precious gift from your parents’, ‘Please consult with the police before you decide to die’. The signs statistically have had very little impact on the suicide rate in the forest, however the idea was a good one as there is evidence many of the suicide victims going into the forest are unsure of their decision. So with video we would have a deeper look on what is being done by the government and the goal is to have video interviews or podcasts of government officials talking about the measures. To finish, we'd have a video of the family of our character from chapter one, weighting wether the person would have killed his/herself if measures in great scale like campaigns; or small scale like a psychological treatment with public health. 

In a sea of trees

Inside the forest and