The forest gained such a reputation in the 1960s, and the place was popularized by Seichō Matsumoto in his two novels: "Nami no Tō", in which he tells about the ghost of a woman who committed suicide in the Aokigahara forest, and "Kuroi jukai" - a story of lovers, who decided to take their own lives in this forest.
There has been a significant increase in the number of suicides since the publication of the book "The Complete Manual of Suicide" by Wataru Tsurumi in 1993. It is a compendium of knowledge about suicide that has sold over a million copies and describes the Aokigahara forest as the perfect place to end one's life.
An interesting fact is that this book can still be purchased in Japan. It was never considered dangerous and its further publication was never banned.
