“The Aokigahara Forest, at the base of Mount Fuji, is the most popular suicide destination in Japan. Over 100 bodies are found here each year.” This is how VICE’s video, “Suicide Forest in Japan” begins. Watch this video and follow VICE as they visit the forest and learn about its popularity among the suicidal. Green all year round and originally formed over lava, the forest seems surreal, indeed. There’s a sign grounded at the park’s entrance to act as a message to the suicidal. It reads: “Your life is a precious gift from your parents. Please think about your parents, siblings and children. Don’t keep it to yourself. Talk about your troubles.” Albeit eerie, this park is beautiful.
Asia
Travel through Asia by country:
Afghanistan, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Brunei, Burma (Myanmar), Cambodia, China, India, Japan, South Korea, Kyrgyzstan, Malaysia, Maldives, Mongolia, Nepal, North Korea, Pakistan, Philippines, Russian Federation, Singapore, Tajikistan, Thailand, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, Vietnam
Travel through Asia by popular city:
Bangkok, Hanoi, Hong Kong, Moscow, New Delhi, Tokyo
Travel through Asia by popular things to do:
Travel through Asia with our writers:
Infiltrating North Korea, Keyhole Into Burma, Band on the Run ... in China, Chinese Buffet, A Canadian in Beijing, Volunteer Vacation: Tajikistan
Off-The-Beaten-Path Latvia Nominated The Most Beautiful Country In The World
When many people are asked what they think the most beautiful country in the world is, they respond with popular favorites like Greece, New Zealand or Brazil. While these countries appear to be among the top in the world, a contest sponsored by First Choice is showing there are also some off-the-beaten-path destinations that many people find aesthetically pleasing.
The contest, called “Conflict of Pinterest,” asked Twitter and Pinterest users to put in their two cents on the topic. While Twitter users voted by submitting a tweet, Pinterest users created eye-catching boards for their country of choice.
So far, the top 10 countries in order are:
1) Latvia
2) Mexico
3) Turkey
4) Indonesia
5) United Kingdom
6) Italy
7) New Zealand
8) Brazil
9) India
10) Canada
To explore the votes more closely via an interactive map and cast your vote, click here.
[photo via Algirdas]
Opening A Box Of Japanese Cookies
As I mentioned in a previous post, my wife recently came home from an astronomy meeting in Tokyo and brought back lots of Japanese snacks. One of them was this tempting box of cookies she got at a sweet shop next to the university.
My wife loves Japanese culture. She loves the orderliness and attention to detail, both important traits for a scientist despite media stereotypes, and she loves their exquisite sense of beauty. For some reason Japan has never drawn me. I prefer the ebullient chaos of Africa or the Middle East. I’m more Tangier than Tokyo.
Still, I won’t say no to a box of Japanese cookies, especially when they come so nicely packaged.
The Japanese like putting things into neat, decorated little packages. Once we broke the seal on this box and opened it, we found it sealed on the inside too.
When we opened that up we saw six varieties of cookies awaiting us. All neatly arranged, of course.
The white ones tasted like meringue and the green ones tasted like green tea. As for the four other flavors, well. . .I have no idea. My wife says she experienced lots of flavors she couldn’t identify during her week in Japan.
The cookies came with a handy leaflet explaining them all, but that was in Japanese!
Photo of the Day – Daejeon National Cemetery
National cemeteries are symbolically loaded places, and Daejeon National Cemetery in Daejeon, South Korea is no exception. Completed in 1985, the cemetery was designed, in the words of the official cemetery website, “to worship patriots, patriotic martyrs, and the souls of all the fallen heroes and the war dead.”
This image was taken by LadyExpat, a prolific Flickr user. Its subject is immediately recognizable as a military memorial. The photographer’s vantage point renders it particularly interesting.
Do you have a photo of a symbolically powerful cultural site taking up space in your personal photo archives? Upload it to the Gadling Group Pool, enable downloading, and sit back. You might just end up seeing your image pop up on Gadling as a future Photo of the Day.
Heat-Map Shows Travelers Most And Least Frequented Destinations
Have you ever wondered what countries are the most and least frequented by travelers? Estonian tech firm Bluemoon has taken data from the photo sharing service Panoramio and created a heat-map based on photos. The map details which countries are the most visited (in yellow), which have a medium amount of visitors (in red) and which are explored the least (in blue). A grey area signifies that no photos have been taken there using Panoramio.
As you can see from the map, Europe is a major tourist destination, as is much of the east and west coasts of the United States and Japan. Certain regions that seem to receive few visitors include Mongolia, India and Australia. Moreover, many areas in Canada and Africa remain unexplored.
They’ve also created a map of the “world’s most interesting remote places.” It only looks at destinations away from cities with remote tourist attractions. Some examples from the data show the Greek Islands are touristy (red), the Amazon Basin has almost no tourism (green) and Ladakh falls in the middle (yellow).
For a bigger view of the map, click here.