Hiking Japan's Aokigahara Forest - Beautiful, Haunted, & Feared

We spent the day hiking as a family in Aokigahara. Located at the foot of Mount Fuji the huge forest is quiet and foreboding. Its sinister reputation is known around the world due to suicides that take place in the forest, but it has a much longer history. Find out what we thought of our hike in Aokigahara.

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Aokigahara is best known outside Japan for its sinister reputation. The forest has been considered haunted since pre-modern Japan. According to folklore, the forest was used as a place to abandon elders called Ubasute. More recently it has been known as a place to commit suicide.

Due to the volcanic rock and moss, the forest is very quiet. This likely started it's reputation of being haunted. It is also beautiful and peaceful. We hiked up the mountainside starting at Lake Saiko Nature Center. We hiked up to The Dragon Cave. We then passed by Fugaku Wind Cave and hiked along the Tokai Nature Trail to Narusawa Ice Cave. With Lilly being so young we could not enter any of the caves other then The Dragon Cave

Overall I liked hiking in Aokigahara and found it a beautiful forest