88 - Aokigahara: Japan's Suicide Forest

Timesuck with Dan Cummins

Dan Cummins

True Crime, Society & Culture, Religion, Conspiracies, History, Biographies, Education, Adult Humor, Comedy, Dark Humor, Conspiracy, Cults

4.7 • 21.6K Ratings

🗓️ 21 May 2018

⏱️ 105 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

An alarming number of Japanese citizens have taken a dark pilgrimage to the Aokigahara forest, more commonly known as Japan’s suicide forest, to end their lives, most commonly by hanging themselves from some of the forest's tree branches. Why? Why here? Why is a small patch of serene forest the second most popular suicide destination in the world, thought to trail only the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco? We’re gonna break down Japan’s suicide dilemma, both within the suicide forest and outside of it - it has one of the highest suicide rates of any country in the world, and look into all sorts of explanations, including some terrifying Japanese paranormal legends, today, on Timesuck . Timesuck is brought to you be Leesa! Get $160 off when you go to Leesa.com/timesuck Timesuck is also brought to by Hims! Get everything you need to keep your hair for just $5 while supplies last. Head to forhims.com/timesuck Feeling depressed or suicidal? Call the suicide helpline at SuicidePreventionHotline.org 1-800-273-8255 Merch - https://badmagicmerch.com/ Want to try out Discord!?! https://discord.gg/tqzH89v Want to join the Cult of the Curious private Facebook Group? Go directly to Facebook and search for "Cult of the Curious" in order to locate whatever current page hasn't been put in FB Jail :) For all merch related questions: https://badmagicmerch.com/pages/contact Please rate and subscribe on iTunes and elsewhere and follow the suck on social media!! @timesuckpodcast on IG, @timesuckpodcast on Twitter, and www.facebook.com/timesuckpodcast Wanna be a Space Lizard? We're over 2400 strong! Go here: https://www.patreon.com/timesuckpodcast Sign up through Patreon and for $5 a month you get to listen to the Secret Suck, which will drop Thursdays at Noon, PST. You'll also get 20% off of all regular Timesuck merch PLUS access to exclusive Space Lizard merch. You get to vote on two Monday topics each month via the app. And you get the download link for my new comedy album, Feel the Heat. Check the Patreon posts to find out how to download the new album and take advantage of other benefits. And, thank you for supporting the show by doing your Amazon shopping after clicking on my Amazon link at www.timesuckpodcast.com

Transcript

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0:00.0	An alarming number of Japanese citizens have taken a dark pilgrimage to the Okigahara
0:04.7	forest more commonly known as Japan's suicide forest to end their lives most commonly by hanging
0:10.6	themselves. An untold number have wandered in and have never wandered out. Beginning in the 1960s,
0:17.2	between approximately 10 and 30 people each year spent their last living moments in this forest
0:22.0	at the base of Mount Fuji. And the number of annual suicides has greatly increased recently,
0:27.2	and 2,300, 105 bodies were discovered. Comprehensive data on lives lost in the forest
0:32.7	doesn't seem to have been released since 2003, which is not a good sign. Why here? Why is a small
0:39.6	patch of serene forest the second most popular suicide destination in the world thought to trail
0:44.8	only the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco? More than 1,500 people have jumped off that bridge
0:50.8	and died since construction was completed in 1937. So many that the US government has decided to
0:56.8	build the world's most expensive safety net. A stainless steel net located about 20 feet below
1:02.3	the bridge's sidewalk will span 1.7 miles of roadway on each side of the bridge and extend 20 feet
1:08.4	out over the water. It's going to take 4 years to construct and will cost just over 200 million.
1:13.6	Should be finished by 2021. And while that net will certainly make it a hell of a lot harder for
1:19.4	people to throw themselves off of that bridge, how do you stop people from taking their lives in a
1:24.7	30 square kilometer patch of forest? You can't put a net under every tree. We're going to break
1:31.5	down Japan's suicide dilemma both with the suicide forest within it and without it. It has one of
1:38.6	the highest suicide rates of any country in the world. I'm going to look at all sorts of explanations
1:44.0	including some terrifying Japanese paranormal legends today on TimeSuck.
1:59.4	Happy Monday, Time Suckers or Tuesday, Friday, last Monday for any time traveling Time Suckers
2:06.9	or whenever you're just happening to let the suck knowledge slap your hearing biscuits.
2:13.6	I'm the man, some called the suck master. The man my mom calls Daniel Boone.
	...

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