Aokigahara: Suicide Forest

INFORMATIVE SPEECH OUTLINE

Organizational Method        : Topical Order

Topic                                : Aokigahara: Suicide Forest

General Purpose                : To inform

Specific Purpose                : To inform my audience about three major features of                                   Aokigahara forest.

Central Idea                        : The three major features of Aokigahara forest are its                                   geography, flora and fauna and the Japanese                                           mythology.

INTRODUCTION:

1. In a light rapidly fading of evening, you are walking through Aokigahara forest and you stop your steps by hear a blood-curdling scream.

1. The natural reaction would be to run, but you can’t do that because the forest floor is a maze of roots and slippery rocks.
2. You start to realize that you lost in this vast woodland which known as the Sea of Trees.
3. Inexplicably, you are moving toward the sound and searching for signs of life. Instead, you find a death body which hang under the tree.
4. Can you feel the mysterious of Aokigahara forest by imagination?

1. For half a century, thousands of life-weary Japanese have made one-way trips to this forest.
2. Unfortunately, Aokigahara forest earned an appellation which is “Suicide Forest”.
3. Beside the Japanese mythology, I would like to share with you about the geography of Aokigahara forest and its flora and fauna.

(Transition: Let’s start by exploring the geography of Aokigahara forest.)

BODY:

1. Aokigahara forest is natural beauty which built from its geography.

1. It occupies an area of 35 square kilometers at the base of northwestern flank of Japan's Mount Fuji which less than 100 miles west of Tokyo.
2. The forest floor consists primarily of volcanic rocks which formed by a massive eruption of Mount Fuji in the year.

1. Thus, the forest floor mostly consists of volcanic rock which can be difficult to penetrate with hand tools such as picks or shovels.

1. Locally, it is also known as Jukai (Sea of Trees) because it is extremely dense of trees.

1. The formation of the highly dense of Aokigahara forest is the result of the eruption.

1. This is because lava flows from the mountain formed a cavern-riddled coating at the base of the mountain and vegetation started growing in the rich volcanic soil of the region.

1. Since the forest is very dense, hikers and tourists who were trekking through Aokigahara begun to use plastic tape to mark their paths to avoid lost.

1. There are two particularly famous lava caves at western edge of Aokigahara forest which are Narusawa lce Cave and Fugaku Wind Cave.

1. These lava caves are very sought-after by tourists thus made Aokigahara forest became popular tourist spot.
2. Narusawa Ice Cave is a nationally designated natural monument.

1. It is a 153m long lava cave with an air hole in a vertical circular shape and created after the outpouring of lava.
2. There are ice pillars inside and being frozen all year round.

1. However, Fugaku Wind Cave is one of the largest natural caves in Aokigahara.

1. It created by burning lava, it is 201 meters long and 8.7 meters high.
2. Average temperature in the cave is 3 degree Celsius thus it used as a natural refrigerator to keep silkworms or species in the past.
3. In addition, echoes do not occur in this cave because the wall of basaltic rock has a property which absorbs sounds.

(Internal summary: We have seen that natural beauty of Aokigahara forest is built from its geography which is based on Mount Fuji, extremely dense of trees, forest floor covered by volcanic rocks and exist of lava caves.

 Transition: Let me share the flora and fauna in the Aokigahara forest with you.)

1. Aokigahara forest is rich of flora and fauna.

1. Its woodland spans 3,000 hectares but it has a soil depth of a mere dozen-plus centimeters.

1. Thus it is highly unusual forest which consists primarily of Japanese cypress, needle leaf trees and also broadleaf trees.
2. However, conifers and broadleaf trees are still growing in this forest such as Pinus densiflora, Acer micranthum, Betula grossa and so on.

1. The dominant tree species between 1000 and 1800 metres of altitude is Tsuga diversifolia whereas and from 1800 to 2200 metres is Abies veitchii.
2. There are many herbaceous flowering plants in the deeper of the forest.

1. For example, Corydalis incisa and Erigeron annuus.

1. In addition, shrubs and mosses were crawling on the forest floor because the surface of the lava flow is extremely uneven and the soil is very thin.
2. Furthermore, the forest is also home to plenty of wildlife.

1. Asian black bear, small Japanese mole, Japanese mink, deer and other mammals are all known to be living in the forest.
2. Japanese white-eye, willow tit and Siberian thrush are some examples of bird in Aokigahara forest.
3. Moreover, there are many species of butterflies, ground beetles, and other insects such as Curetis acuta and Neptis Sappho.

(Let’s move to next topic which is about Japanese mythology of Aokigahara forest.)

1. The Aokigahara forest is associated with the angry and terrifying spirits of Japanese mythology known as “Yūrei”.

1. Yūrei are figures in Japanese folklore which analogous to Western legends of ghosts.

1. These are said to be the ghosts of those who died in a violent manner and were unable to pass into the afterlife because the proper rites were not performed.

1. Aokigahara forest is also allegedly a place where ubasute (Japanese carried their elders to die of starvation).

1. Ubasute became popular after the 1960’s when a novel “Tower of Waves” by famed author Seichō Matsumoto was published.
2. In this novel, a couple commits suicide in the Aokigahara forest.

1. Another book from 1993, “The Complete Manual of Suicide” by Wataru Tsurumi increased suicide rates.

1. The author described the Aokigahara forest as the perfect place to commit suicide and even described which parts of the forests are less circulated so the bodies cannot be found later on.

1. Aokigahara forest is the number one suicide spot for Japanese and has the unfortunate distinction of being the world’s second most popular place to suicide.

1. Hanging and drug overdose are the two most commonly adopted suicide methods in this forest.
2. Through the year 1988, there were about 30 annual suicides committed in the forest in modern times.
3. The number of suicides gradually increased thereafter, reaching 78 in 2002 and 105 in 2003.
4. In 2010, the police recorded more than 200 people having attempted suicide in the forest, of whom 54 completed the act.
5. The average person who commits suicide in the forest are usually males between 40 and 50 years and the biggest month for suicides is March, possibly because March is the end of the fiscal year in Japan.
6.  There are so many people come from all over Japan to end their stressful lives here as they feel it is the perfect location to breathe their last.

CONCLUSION:

1. In conclusion, it is good to focus on the natural beauty of Aokigahara instead.

1. As mentioned, there is a stunning range of flowers and wildlife.

1. People are hoping to build the forest’s reputation as an area of natural beauty and lessen its dark reputation.
2. There is nothing beautiful about dying there because plenty of bodies that have been really badly decomposed or been picked at by wild animals.

REFERENCES:

AokigaharaForest. (2017). Aokigahara. Retrieved March 25, 2018, from AokigaharaForest: http://www.aokigaharaforest.com/