Aokigahara Woods (lower north slope of Mt. Fuji) is a popular hiking area in the summer and covered in snow in the winter. It has also been a popular suicide spot since the 1970s when a heroine in popular television drama based on the novel Kawa-No-Oto (1960), committed suicide there. The victims mostly die from drug overdoses and hangings.
In 1998, police found 73 bodies in the Aokigahara woods. The site is so popular that there are signs on the trails that read: "Wait a Minute! The world holds bitterness but also joy. You only have one life to live, so think it over."
Taxi drivers who work the nearest train station are told to be in the look out for possible suicide candidates, typically people who arrive and ask to be taken to the woods to go camping even though they don' have camping equipment or luggage. When an abandoned car is found, a search begins for the owners. Sometimes the body of the car isn't found but the bodies of other people are.
