I visit religious building if they have nice architecture. Even I do not mind to visit cemetery like Pere Lachaise. That is also for art and architecture.
I do not visit catacombs anymore. Out of curiosity I visited a couple of catacombs. I have stopped visiting catacombs a long time ago. I have never visited Aokigahara forest in Japan. I will never do. Life is too short to waste time visiting death and depression.
People say that it is the second most popular place for suicides in the world after San Francisco’s Golden Gate Bridge. About 100 suicides occur every year. People also say that the Aokigahara forest has became the popular place for suicides after the novel Nami no Tō (波の塔?) or “Tower of Waves” written by Seichō Matsumoto was published in 1960. In this novel, lovers commit suicide in the forest. But the Aokigahara forest was used for suicides long before the novel was published. Ubasute was practiced by poor Japanese. They used to leave their elderly relatives to the Aokigahara forest to die. During the drought and famine, ubasute was widely practiced. Remember The Ballad of Narayama! According to tradition, once a person reaches the age of 70, he or she must travel to a remote mountain to die of starvation. The Ballad of Narayama reminds me of Bengali Hindu widows! Family members send them to Varanasi, a holy place to die.
Suicide in the Aokigahara forest reminds me of farmers’ suicide in India. Indian farmers started committing mass suicide in 1990’s. More than 17,500 farmers killed themselves every year from 2002 to 2006. 16,196 farmers committed suicide in 2008. Since 1997, much more than 200,000 farmers committed suicide. The reasons of farmers’ suicide: ‘debt, the difficulty of farming semi-arid regions, poor agricultural income, absence of alternative income opportunities, the downturn in the urban economy forcing non-farmers into farming, and the absence of suitable counseling services.’
Whatever the reason is, I believe, suicide can be contagious.
Good write up.
Cruellest Cut
One of Michelle Hanson’s pieces in the Guardian. I find it quite funny, although the topic is bleak. These people are not rich enough to have a car and drive it to a local beauty spot. The TV documentary is well done.
On the idea that suicide is contagious, it most certainly can be. At least in my carefully controlled study of one. Me. I am currently on disability because of a very serious suicide attempt a number of years ago. I am on some strong medication that I believe keeps me alive and meet regularly with mental health professionals. As someone with fairly severe depression, suicide is always seen by me as a treatment option, one that would permently end my suffering.
Three people that I regularly spent time with during my last hospital visist have committed suicide (there may have been others that I am not aware of). Each of these deaths have brought up the feelings I had at the time of my attempt and have caused a relapse of my depression.
It is very easy to see how suicide could be ‘contagious’, although in most cases, a preexisting mental illness, diagnosed or not, likely exists. Although even without mental illness an extreme feeling of powerlessness and hopelessness can also lead to suicide. Again, once someone close to you has crossed that line, it becomes easier for you.
I stand with Taslima – away from such places of death.