Mysterious Japan

Season Outlines

Illustration of a person reading with text 'Mysterious Japan'

  • Episodes 1 through 9.

    Focus on Aokigahara Jukai: The Suicide Forest—origins, legends, yokai, ghosts, and strange properties.

  • Episodes 10 through 14 examine stories surrounding two cursed places of Tatari (places “forsaken by the gods”):

    Iwo Jima and the Mihara volcano.

  • (Forthcoming.)

    Focus on two of the most haunted places in Tokyo:

    Toyama Park: Its Monsters, Ghosts, and Human Experimentation

    Hotel New Japan: The deadly blaze, ghosts, and yakuza.

  • One episode Focusing on funny and unbelievable stories from Japan.

    (Forthcoming.)

  • (Forthcoming)

    Focuses on the stories behind the Christian persecution, Unzen Hell, the Shimabara rebellion of slaughter, and yokai.

SEASON ONE:

JUKAI

Mountain valley with dense forest and distant lake under a blue sky

View of Jukai and Lake Saiko from Koyodai summit.

Episode 1: Fiery Origins of Jukai

SEASON 1: JUKAI Ep. 1

Aokigahara Jukai (Northwest base of Mt. Fuji)

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Episode Music • Episode Primary Sources (LINK)

Forest scene with "No entry" sign and ropes blocking a path, surrounded by dense trees and foliage.

Depictions of Tengu entities believed to inhabit Jukai and signs prohibiting deviation from the main trail.

Wooden Tengu statue with wings and a staff on a display.
Illustration of a bird holding a sword in Japanese art style.

SEASON 1: JUKAI Ep. 2

Aokigahara Jukai

Episode 2: Evil in the Suicide Forest

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Episode Music • Episode Sources

Additional Materials

Episode 3: Becoming a Suicide Forest

SEASON 1: JUKAI, Ep. 3

Aokigahara Jukai

Old, weathered shoes and sneakers covered in green moss on a forest floor. 
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Episode Music • Episode Sources

Shoes left behind by a family in a Shinju suicide pact and blue tape used by potential suicide victims to mark their path in case they change their minds (below).
Dense forest with fallen branches and blue ropes

Episode 4: Murders in the Suicide Forest

SEASON 1: JUKAI Ep. 4

Aokigahara Jukai

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Episode Music • Episode Sources

Stuffed hands bound to a tree with striped fabric in a forest setting.

Jack Skellington doll used to place a curse on Jukai and all who enter.