TOKYO, March 20 (UPI) -- Japanese authorities have posted security cameras at the entrance to a forest near Tokyo in hopes of cutting the number of suicides there.
The forest at Aokigahara features breathtaking views of Mount Fuji but in Japan it is known as the No. 1 place where people go to commit suicide, CNN reported Friday.
Suicide rates in Japan were up 15 percent this January and the Japanese government has pledged a serious effort to cut the number by 2016, CNN said.
Imasa Watanabe of the Yamanashi Prefecture government that oversees Aokigahara said the goal of the security cameras is to track people who enter the forest.
Watanabe said he fears an increase in suicides in the months to come.
"Especially in March, the end of the fiscal year, most suicidal people will come here because of the bad economy," he told CNN. "It's my dream to stop suicides in the forest, but to be honest, it would be difficult to prevent all the cases here."
