On Dec. 31, 2017, famous YouTube vlogger Logan Paul released a vlog featuring his trip to Japan. On his trip, Paul and friends took a detour and entered the restricted area of the Aokigahara forest.
Located at the base of Mount Fuji, the Aokigahara forest, is also known as the Sea of Trees or the Suicide Forest. People are allowed to enter as long as they stick to the parking lot and path, however, Paul and friends decided to walk off the path and into the forests' restricted areas.
Deeper in the forest, Paul and his crew encountered a dead body. Instead of ending the video there, the group decided to film it and zoom in on the deceased man's face. While the actual body was censored for the YouTube video, Paul included the footage in his Vlog and uploaded it for the public.
The video received numerous likes and ended up trending on YouTube.
Outraged, numerous people took to social media sites such as Twitter, Tumblr, and YouTube to express their disgust over the video and Paul's disrespect for the deceased and his family.
Many celebrity YouTubers also called Paul out on Aokigahara Vlog.
YouTuber Felix Kjellberg (Pewdiepie), even made a response to Paul's vlog, highlighting some of the disrespectful things the vlogger did in the forest and in the presence of the corpse. The video was posted on Jan. 2, and Pewdiepie received mostly positive responses and over a million likes.
Some of the other YouTubers who made responses to Paul's antics were The Japanese Man Yuta and Reina Scully. Aside from talking about Paul's actions in the Aokigahara forest, both YouTubers also touched on the other things he did in Japan, such as getting arrested at a shrine and throwing pokeballs at moving vehicles and numerous people on the street.
Paul eventually released an apology. The vlogger stated that he had made a mistake and that he had never meant to be disrespectful towards the deceased person or their family members.
The video received mixed responses, with many people still outraged by what he had done.
YouTube eventually shared their own views on the issue and released an open letter on Jan. 9. The letter was uploaded to YouTube's Twitter account, and it stated that they would look into the issue and make sure that Paul would receive consequences for his actions.
While YouTube has released its statement, it has yet to take any action against Paul.
