Month: October 2019

Stresses of Japanese Life and a Remedy

Forest Bathing

It is no secret that life is hard for the Japanese. Starting in preschool, they are taught to be polite and considerate of others. There are countless rules of etiquette that must be learned and practiced. Competition for admission to elite high schools and colleges is fierce and stressful. The parents are stressed, mothers feel guilty if their children do not succeed, and when they do, they exercise their bragging rights with bursting pride. Once employed in a company, there is the stress of learning the corporate culture that stipulates that an employee must work long hours and get the job done, no matter the personal sacrifices. When the boss wants to go out for drinks, the employee cannot refuse.  Lunch is usually half an hour but they take 15 minutes, aware of coworkers’ watchful eyes on their return.  Fifty-eight percent of women are not interested in marriage or childbirth, and hugs were programmed out of the culture centuries ago.  They bow and exercise their passion in private.

Against such a backdrop, Japan is the ideal venue for researchers to study the benefits of leisurely walks in the forest.  There are abundant trees within a short distance from urban centers. The Japanese love nature and go for picnics to observe cherry blossoms, they have moon viewing parties, and get excited over glimpses of Mount Fuji.  These activities make them receptive to participating in physical programs that slow down the frenetic pace of life in Japan.

Starting in the 1980s, Japanese researchers began studying the effects of taking leisurely walks in the forest. The researchers documented empirical evidence.  They found that the natural killer cells, or NK cells, which are the body’s natural defense against cancer cells, had increased after a typical one- to two-hour walk in the forest.  The other benefits included an improved a sense of well-being, reduction of stress, and a feeling of rejuvenation with improved sleep.  In 1982, the forestry minister coined the term shinrin-yoku which translates to forest bathing.

From 2004 to 2012, the Japanese government spent nearly 4 million dollars on extensive research, and 48 paths were certified based on increased numbers of NK cells after a walk.  Organizations were formed to create guidelines, disseminate information, and certify forest therapy guides.  The programs are promoted as preventive measures. The guides lead small groups through the paths and participants take in the majesty of the trees, the life forces found in a verdant environment, and activities such as meditation and yoga.

Forest bathing has become a worldwide movement with organizations established to certify forest paths and train therapy guides.  With so many documented benefits, forest bathing is a pleasant and therapeutic pastime worth considering.

Livni, Ephrat, Trees Please, Quartz, 2016, October 12, https://qz.com/804022/health-benefits-japanese-forest-bathing/

A Place to Die

Sea of Trees

There is a place in Japan called the Aokigahara Forest located at Mt. Fuji’s northwest base that is also known as the suicide forest or sea of trees.  Volunteers have found the remains of samurai who have committed ritual suicide, or seppuku there, indicating that it has long been a site for suicide.  Although purported to be a myth, it is plausible that in times of famine, elders were sent there to die of starvation and dehydration.  Modern deaths usually are men who have been demoted or have lost their jobs. There are occasional tents found, suggesting that the person was contemplating suicide but had not made a final decision.  Corpses of foreigners have been found there as well.  Most hang themselves or overdose on drugs.

The roots of the trees are intertwined, making for uneven and rough terrain.  The magnetic iron ore in the volcanic rock renders compasses nonfunctional and cell phones useless.  Trees often form a canopy and block out light from the sun and the moon.  Many people mark their trails with plastic tape if they intend to come back out.

Books have been written about this unique forest with an eerie silence, paucity of wildlife, and the belief that ghosts populate the forest to force visitors into the thick foliage.  Wataru Tsurumi wrote a book, The Complete Manual of Suicide, that seems to have captured the imagination of a worldwide audience.  In it, he describes and analyzes a range of suicide methods and names Aokigahara as an ideal place to die.

The intriguing stories inspired Gus Van Sant to direct a movie, Sea of Trees (2015) starring Matthew McConaughey, Naomi Watts, and Ken Watanabe.  The story takes place in Japan and the Northeast United States, but was filmed in Foxborough, Massachusetts which has a similar terrain.  A married couple has a contentious relationship because of a previous affair.  The wife has a cancer diagnosis with a positive outcome and then suffers a tragic accidental death.  Deep depression leads McConaughey’s character to purchase a one-way ticket to Tokyo to go to the forest to die.  He meets another lost individual trying to make it back to civilization and in the process of helping him find a way out, discovers compassion and messages from his wife that restore his vision of hope and purpose.

The film failed to garner interest on an empathetic level with the audience.  I viewed the movie twice, hoping that I had missed something.  I believe that a beige jacket that the character’s wife had given him symbolizes love and hope.  He wears the jacket throughout the film, and carries the drugs that will kill him in a pocket, but when the character of Ken Watanabe is  near death, McConaughey immediately takes the jacket off to make him comfortable and runs off to find help.  This was not an empty movie as some critics have concluded, but rich in effort and the tangentials that make audiences ponder aspects of their own lives.  It also informs us about the Japanese cultural perspective of suicide.

A friend told me about the DVD and it piqued my interest in learning more about the suicide forest, second to the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco as a place to commit suicide.  Although there are tours for visitors and views of Mt. Fuji, this is not on my bucket list as a place to visit or a place to die.  Not for me.