Statistics for the first few months of the year indicated that while the economic outlook in 2010 is improving, it will once again be a miserable year for suicides. The people who live near the most celebrated suicide spot in the country have already seen an upturn in the number of people entering Aokigahara Forest.

The first indications of a life that has been lost appear within a hundred meters of entering the forest. Scattered across tree roots are a man’s shirt, boxer shorts and trousers. Amid the clothes are a bottle of sake and another of Korean liquor, as well as empty packets of prescription pills.

The name is clearly legible on the envelope that the Japanese pharmacist would have handed over, unaware that the tablets were going to be used to help end a life rather than cure an illness.

There is no sign of human remains in the little hollow, within sight of the path that leads into the woods from a car park on the slopes of Mount Fuji. According to the police, foxes, raccoons and bears scatter the bones throughout the forest.

That makes it difficult for the authorities to determine how many people deliberately fail to return from a stroll in the forest. Local firefighters and town officials try to stop them and say that the majority of those they intercept are young men. The older ones go in cars or by taxi or bus, meaning there are fewer opportunities to stop them.

In May, the National Police Agency released the details of a survey that indicated 32,845 people committed suicide in 2009, up 1.85 percent from the previous year and above the 30,000 threshold for the 12th consecutive year. Of the total, more than 65 percent of people who left a note stating the reason for killing themselves blamed it on losing their job.

Lengths of string disappear from the sides of the paths, left by families searching for some sign of a loved-one. In places, red markers have been left on branches to indicate a find.

A tent has collapsed on itself, partly covering the remains of a meal, clothes and a bottle of sake. A line of shoes -- of a male adult, female adult and a child -- sit atop a log. A carrier bag contains love letters, photos of a wedding day and two young children, and pictures by a child depicting “Dad and me.”

Well off the path is a small gorge in the volcanic rock that makes up the floor of the forest. Trees have fallen across the gap and over a sturdy branch; four neckties have been knotted together with a noose at one end. Once again, there are no signs of the man who hanged himself here. ❶

Julian Ryall is the Japan correspondent of The Daily Telegraph. Rob Gilhooly is a photographer and writer whose work has been published worldwide. He has been documenting Aokigahara Jukai for 3 years, including 18 visits to the forest. www.japanphotojournalist.com