FUJIKAWAGUCHIKO, Yamanashi – The prefectural government has launched suicide prevention patrols using drones equipped with speakers and infrared cameras over the Aokigahara forest, a “sea of ​​trees” at the foot of Mount Fuji, famous for being a place where people take their own lives.

Night drone patrols aim to locate people thinking about suicide and guide them to a safe place. This is intended to supplement residents’ daily patrols.

In 2022 and 2023, Yamanashi Prefecture had the highest number of suicides per 100,000 inhabitants among Japan’s 47 prefectures, based on where the bodies were discovered. However, about 30% of them are from outside the prefecture or whose address is unknown.

The prefectural government has contracted the patrols to Tokyo-based drone operating company JDrone, which began in mid-September and will be conducted on a test basis until March 2025. To prevent people at risk of suicide from avoiding the patrols, information such as routes and schedules are not published.

During a media demonstration flight on September 18, an autonomous drone equipped with an infrared camera flew at an altitude of 80 to 100 meters above the forest. When a person is off-trail, another manually-controlled drone is dispatched to the site. Using the drone’s speakers, staff deliver messages such as “If you need help, wave” and “Are you OK?” as patrols on foot approach the area.

Since 2010, the prefecture has funded patrols in Aokigahara in Fujikawaguchiko and the neighboring village of Narusawa. Police officers check peripheral areas every day by car and on forest trails.

According to the health promotion department of the Yamanashi Prefectural Government, 182 people ended their lives in the forest in 2019 and 2020, followed by 192 in 2021, 199 in 2022 and 215 in 2023. Keiko Chiken, head of the health promotion department, expressed her opinion and expressed hope to positive results, saying, “We want to dispel the image of Aokigahara Forest as a famous suicide site.”

(Japanese original: Kaoru Sato, Kofu Bureau)