One man is obsessed by death and suicide, so it is not surprising that he would seek out Aokigahara, Japan's famous suicide forest. When he encounters an old woman in the forest, will he change his mind?

First published in Yamamba: In Search of the Japanese Mountain Witch by Stone Bridge Press.

David Sands Holloway was a scholar of contemporary Japanese literature, culture, and gender studies whose meteoric career rise was cut short by his sudden death, June 25, 2021. A tenure-track assistant professor of Japanese in the Department of Modern Languages and Cultures at the University of Rochester, David’s academic interests included the precarity of the “lost decade;” youth cultures and subcultures; the intersection of Japanese literature with gender, media, and fantasy; millennial issues; tattoos, body alterations, and self-presentation; and manifestations of Japan’s AIDS crisis in 1980s and 1990s popular culture and media. Creative writer, photographer, and an ardent basketball player until his knees gave out, David’s regard for life was always inflected with compassion and a sly humor, the latter of which is apparent in “An Encounter in Aokigahara.”

If you have feelings of suicide, please seek help at
https://telljp.com (Japan)
https://suicidepreventionlifeline.org/talk-to-someone-now/ (English and Spanish)

You can read An Encounter at Aokigahara at https://www.whiteenso.com/ghost-stories-2022

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