The 60-year-old musician has been waging an eight-year battle to banish the vast forest’s morbid reputation by reaching out to those who come to end their lives.

But now he fears his work is being undone. The forest, known as Aokigahara, made global headlines last year when YouTube star Logan Paul filmed an episode of his online series there, showing a suicide victim at the site.

The footage sparked outrage and infuriated Watanabe, who was born nearby and has spent most of his life in and around the forest.

“It’s a forest of nature. It’s a forest of religion. It’s not that kind of place,” he said.”Do people want to make this forest a hell?” he said, calling it “so painful” to see the woods depicted in such a grim fashion.

Watanabe now lives in a hut on the edge of Aokigahara, which means “a field of blue trees”.

As night falls, he flips on speakers outside his secluded home and blasts rock and hip-hop into the darkness, breaking the thick silence of the ocean of trees.

He believes music is a way to reach people engulfed in inner turmoil, and describes seeing people turn around and leave the forest when they hear the blasting tunes.

Sometimes he plays guitar and sings his favourite songs into a microphone to break the silence.

He has even intervened directly, convincing one man who had travelled from the western city of Osaka to go home.

“He returned home, and he still sends me messages on Facebook,” he said.

– Highest suicide rate in the G7 –

Aokigahara’s long history dates back to the middle of the ninth century, when Mount Fuji erupted and lava covered wide areas that have since transformed into a 30 square-kilometre (12 square-mile) forest.

Local people have long worshipped the woods and its surroundings as a sacred place that reputedly enshrines a dragon.

It is a foreboding place, thickly planted with tall trees that block out the sun, and carpeted with moss and gnarled roots.

That led in the 1970s to it being increasingly depicted in popular novels, movies and television dramas as the fictional setting for suicides.

The association eventually became strong enough that suicidal people began travelling to the forest to die. Authorities no longer give official figures for suicides in the forest, but at one time dozens of people were dying there each year.

A sign at the entrance reads: “Life is a precious thing given by your parents. Think again calmly about your parents, siblings and children. Do not worry alone. First talk to us” and gives a hotline number to call.

Japan has the highest suicide rate of any Group of Seven industrialised nation, with more than 20,000 people taking their own lives annually.

And the suicide rate in Yamanashi prefecture, where the forest is located, was the worst in Japan for eight years until 2014.

Nearly half of those who killed themselves in the region were from elsewhere, suggesting they had expressly travelled to the area to commit suicide.

In recent years, local residents say, the number of victims appeared to be on the decline, with some hoping the forest might finally shed its malign image.

But that hope was shattered when Paul uploaded his controversial film showing the body of a man who had committed suicide. The video attracted six million views before it was deleted. He has since apologised for the film.

– ‘It’s my duty’ –

“The first wave of notoriety was created by mass media decades ago and now we are facing a second wave created by social media,” Watanabe said.

“Now that it’s recognised globally, people are coming from all over the world… to see something unusual.”

Paul’s footage was not the only factor — a steady stream of sometimes sensationalist news reports, and a 2015 film about two men coming to the forest to kill themselves — have cemented the place’s morbid reputation in recent years.

But Watanabe said Paul’s film appeared to have attracted visitors seeking the macabre. “Some foreign visitors have even asked me where they can see dead men.”

Despite its reputation, the forest does still attract regular sightseers.

Lisa Bishop, a 33-year-old tourist from Canada, said she was there “to come and see from our perspective what exactly we feel when we walk in here.”

She rejected footage like Paul’s: “It’s absolutely wrong. It’s people’s privacy.” Watanabe knows he faces an uphill struggle, but says he is committed to his campaign.

“Because I was born here, I have to protect this place,” he says. “I’m a gatekeeper. I feel it’s like my duty.”

Hundreds of buildings were destroyed by the wave, which hit beaches without warning in South Sumatra and the western tip of Java about 9.30 pm local time (1430 GMT) on Saturday, national disaster agency spokesman Sutopo Purwo Nugroho said in a statement.

At least 43 people died and 584 people were injured across three regions.

Authorities say the tsunami may have been triggered by an abnormal tidal surge due to a new moon and an underwater landslide following the eruption of Anak Krakatoa, which forms a small island in the Sunda Strait between Java and Sumatra.

“The combination caused a sudden tsunami that hit the coast,” Nugroho said, but added that Indonesia’s geological agency was working to ascertain exactly how it happened.

He added that the death toll would likely increase.

Video footage posted to social media by Nugroho showed panicked residents clutching flashlights and fleeing for higher ground.

Indonesian authorities initially claimed the wave was not a tsunami, but instead a tidal surge and urged the public not to panic.

Nugroho later apologised for the mistake on Twitter, saying because there was no earthquake it had been difficult to ascertain the cause of the incident early on.

“If there is an initial error we’re sorry,” he wrote.

– ‘It went dark’ –

The wave swamped parts of the coast around the Sunda Strait between Java and Sumatra island, but was most damaging in Pandeglang district, on Java’s western tip, where 33 people died and 491 people were injured.

At Carita beach, a popular day-tripping spot on the west coast of Java, 15-year-old Muhammad Bintang described a sudden surge of water that plunged the tourist spot into darkness.

“We arrived at 9 pm for our holiday and suddenly the water came — it went dark, the electricity is off,” he told AFP.

“It’s messy outside and we still cannot access the road.”

In Lampung province, on the other side of the strait, Lutfi Al Rasyid said he fled the beach in Kalianda city in fear for his life.

“I could not start my motorbike so I left it and I ran… I just prayed and ran as far as I could,” the 23 year old told AFP

Although relatively rare, submarine volcanic eruptions can cause tsunamis due to the sudden displacement of water or slope failure, according to the International Tsunami Information Centre.

Anak Krakatoa is a small volcanic island that emerged from the ocean half a century after Krakatoa’s deadly 1883 eruption.

When Krakatoa erupted in the 19th century, a jet of ash, stones and smoke shot more than 20 kilometres (12 miles) into the sky, plunging the region into darkness, and sparking a huge tsunami that was felt around the world.

The disaster killed more than 36,000 people.

Indonesia, one of the most disaster-prone nations on earth, straddles the so-called Pacific ‘Ring of Fire’, where tectonic plates collide and a large portion of the world’s volcanic eruptions and earthquakes occur.

Most recently in the city of Palu on Sulawesi island a quake and tsunami killed thousands of people.

In 2004 a tsunami triggered by a magnitude 9.3 undersea earthquake off the coast of Sumatra in western Indonesia killed 220,000 people in countries around the Indian Ocean, including 168,000 in Indonesia.

Anak Krakatoa is one of 127 active volcanoes which run the length of the archipelago.

Near the border between France and Spain hundreds of protesters disrupted traffic as they gathered around an autoroute toll booth.

Police fired tear gas to disperse the “yellow vests” who retreated to a bridge, throwing objects on the road, an AFP photographer at the scene said.

“The autoroute is now being cleaned to allow traffic to resume normally,” local authorities said.

France borders the Catalan region of Spain, and the French protesters were joined by dozens of Catalan pro-independence activists, also wearing yellow vests.

The separatists often block highways to protest against Madrid’s rejection of Catalonia’s independence referendum in October 2017.

Even though their goals are different, “this demonstration at the Boulou (toll booth) is symbolic, it shows the solidarity between the Spanish Catalans and the French,” said Marcel, a 49-year-old winegrower.

Roadblocks by protesters were also reported on autoroutes near the border with Italy and at a bridge in Strasbourg near the German border.

A driver died overnight when his car slammed into the back of a truck stopped at a roadblock set up by “yellow vest” protesters at an autoroute entrance in Perpignan on the Mediterranean coast, prosecutor Jean-Jacques Fagni told AFP.

There have now been 10 deaths related to the protests since they began on November 17.

– Macron effigy –

In Paris, the scene of violent clashes during previous demonstrations, around 800 protesters joined rallies scattered around the city, police said at mid-day.

But the French capital’s iconic Champs-Elysees avenue was calm, with most shops except for some luxury boutiques open for business in the busy weekend before Christmas.

David Delbruyere, 48, was one of about 20 protesters near the Arch of Triumph, the fifth time he has come to the French capital for a demonstration as he remains “disgusted” with conditions in France.

Paris police said 65 people had been arrested, including a “yellow vest” leader, Eric Drouet.

Authorities were also stationed at the Palace of Versailles outside Paris which has been closed to visitors over fears of unrest.

A Facebook event organised by Drouet had listed thousands of people “interested” in joining the Versailles demonstration but only around 60 have shown up.

Further demonstrations of several hundred “yellow vests” were reported in Lyon, Marseille, Rouen and Bordeaux.

And in Angouleme in southwest France, a puppet effigy of President Emmanuel Macron was decapitated Friday night during a “yellow vest” protest, regional authorities said Saturday.

Meanwhile, police stepped in with tear gas to disperse around 80 protesters who had gathered Saturday outside Macron’s home in the Channel coast town of Touquet.

The number of protesters has however fallen significantly since last week, when Macron, a pro-business centrist, gave in to some of their demands.

Since the peak on November 17 with 282,000 demonstrators, the turnout has fallen to 166,000 on November 24, 136,000 on the first and eighth of December and 66,000 on December 15.

The movement characterised by the high-visibility yellow vests worn by the protesters originally started as a protest about planned fuel tax hikes, but has morphed into a widespread demonstration against Macron’s policies and top-down style of governing.

On Friday evening, the French Senate approved Macron’s measures to help the working poor and pensioners — just hours after they were adopted by the lower house of parliament — which aim to quell “yellow vest” anger and should come into force early in 2019.

In Asia, Cambodia enjoys the most number of non – working days with 28 public holidays in a year, according to date collected by the World Atlas. The country uses traditional Khmer calendar for the Buddhist holidays and syncs it with solar calendar for other business holidays.

The second spot for most number of holidays is shared by Sri Lanka. The country has around 25 public holidays in a year.

India has third highest number of holidays in Asia with 21 public holidays every year. The holiday calendar is quite diverse based on multi religious and multi-cultural population across the country.

Philippines is at the fourth spot with 18 public holidays a year. Some of the most significant holidays of the year are New Year ’s Eve, Independence Day and Holy week. It is followed by China with 17 holidays a year the significant one being Dragon boat festival, Lantern festival and National day.

Thailand and Pakistan each have 16 holidays per year followed by Japan and Malaysia with 15 holidays each. Indonesia has 14 public holidays in a year.

South Korea has 13 Public holidays in a year. Non-working days in South Korea are known as red days only because those days are marked in red on the calendar. Choseok is the Korean thanksgiving and one of the most significant holidays of the year.

Nepal has 13 holidays per year. Singapore has the least number of holidays with 11 off days per year.

The video was found in a USB key belonging to Cherif Chekatt, 29, who was shot and killed by police after a two-day manhunt in the city following the December 11 attack.

The Islamic State group claimed Chekatt was one of their “fighters”, but this was dismissed by French Interior Minister Christophe Castaner.

Chekatt’s father, Abdelkrim, had said his son believed the Islamic State “fought for a good cause”.

“I always told him they were criminals,” his father added.

Four of the five people killed in the attack were foreigners or born abroad. They included a Thai tourist, a Franco-Afghan garage owner, an Italian journalist and a former Pole who had lived in Strasbourg for the past 20 years.

The dead also included a 61-year-old Frenchman who had just retired and was shot in the head as he stepped out of a restaurant.

Operations for several key agencies ceased at 12:01 am Saturday (0501 GMT), despite last-ditch talks that continued on Capitol Hill between White House officials and congressional leaders in both parties.

Most critical security functions remain operational but 800,000 federal workers are impacted, with many furloughed just days before Christmas while others deemed essential are working unpaid.

And as many other Americans and tourists began vacations head of end-of-the year holidays some national parks have shuttered completely, while others remain open but without any visitor services including restrooms and maintenance.

New York’s governor provided funding to the Statue of Liberty monument and Ellis Island so those key attractions could remain open.

The budget wrangling and subsequent shutdown — the third in a year — cast a dark cloud over the US capital already reeling from Defense Secretary Jim Mattis’s resignation announcement Thursday.

The uncertainty pushed Wall Street into a third straight rout on Friday, to end its worst week since late 2008 at the start of the global financial crisis.

“President Trump threw a temper tantrum and convinced House Republicans to push our nation into a destructive Trump Shutdown,” Chuck Schumer, the top opposition Democrat in the Senate, and his House counterpart, fellow Democrat Nancy Pelosi, said in a joint statement.

Trump has dug in on his demand for $5 billion for construction of a wall to curb illegal immigration on the US border with Mexico. Democrats are staunchly opposed, and the absence of an elusive deal means federal funds for dozens of agencies lapsed at midnight Friday.

– ‘Dereliction of duty’ –

The House of Representatives and the Senate are due back in session at noon on Saturday.

But it remains unclear how long the shutdown will last, with Washington unable to accomplish one of its most basic tasks — keeping the government up and running.

“This is a dereliction of duty by Congress and the president,” said David Cox, national president of the American Federation of Government Employees.

Trump voiced hope late Friday that it “will not last long” — after earlier saying he was ready for just that.

His own Republican party still controls both the House and Senate, but in January the House comes under Democratic control.

Governor Ralph Northam of Virginia — a state bordering the US Capitol that is home to many federal workers — urged Trump in a letter Saturday to push immediate action to end the shutdown, saying it “inflicts real harm” on workers.

“I share your desire for strong economic growth throughout the United States, but the current partial government shutdown makes it harder to achieve this goal,” the Democratic governor said.

‘Prepared’ for shutdown

About three-quarters of the government, including the military and the Department of Health and Human Services, is fully funded until the end of September 2019, leaving 25 percent unfunded as of Saturday.

Most NASA employees will be sent home, as will Commerce Department workers and many at the Departments of Homeland Security, Justice, Agriculture and State.

“It’s up to the Democrats whether or not we have a shutdown tonight,” Trump said earlier Friday, blaming his political opponents for the crisis.

“I hope we don’t,” the president added, but “we’re totally prepared for a very long shutdown.”

Should they eventually strike a deal, it could swiftly clear Congress and reach the president’s desk, said Senate Republican Bob Corker.

One focus of discussion was the $1.6 billion in border security funding that was a part of pending Senate legislation, number two Senate Republican John Cornyn told AFP.

But conservatives in the House would likely balk at that figure.

“There’s no agreement,” congressman Mark Meadows, chairman of the House Freedom Caucus of ultra-conservatives, told reporters as he left a closed-door meeting on the Capitol’s Senate side.

“There’s a whole lot of numbers being thrown around,” but a maximum $1.6 billion for border security “is not acceptable.”

‘Hostage’

Trump reversed course Thursday and rejected a measure that had unanimously passed the Senate and was under House consideration.

It would have extended government funding until February 8, but contained no money for a border wall, a pet project Trump has fought for since his presidential campaign.

Democrats painted Trump as the Grinch who stole the year-end deal.

With lawmakers like Meadows and prominent conservative commentators demanding that the president stick to his campaign promises, Trump would not budge on his wall.

The House swiftly passed a bill that fulfilled the president’s demands. It included $5.7 billion in wall funding, and $7.8 billion in disaster relief.

But it stalled at the first hurdle in the Senate.

Trump was scheduled to fly to Florida Friday for his Christmas break, but he postponed the trip.

“This kind of incident is unprecedented anywhere in the world, the disruption of an airport in this way,” Britain’s Transport Secretary Chris Grayling said Friday.

Flights were suspended again at Gatwick on Friday by a drone alert, just hours after being reopened following the original unmanned drone sightings which caused travel chaos that left tens of thousands of passengers stranded over three days.

“We’re going to have to learn very quickly from what’s happened,” Grayling told the BBC.

“There certainly isn’t a straightforward commercial off-the-shelf solution that automatically solves all problems.”

In fact, drone disruption at airports is not quite unprecedented.

In 2016, Dubai International Airport closed three times because of drones being used for leisure nearby. The delayed and rerouted flights cost millions of dollars.

In February 2016, an Airbus A320 flying the Barcelona-Paris route reported a near miss with a drone at 1,600 altitude (one mile up) as it approached Charles de Gaulle airport.

Potential catastrophe

The fear is that if a drone smashed into a passenger plane or was sucked up into one of its engines, its highly flammable lithium battery could cause a catastrophe.

Gatwick chief executive Stewart Wingate wants to see swift, coordinated action.

“These events obviously highlight a wider strategic challenge for aviation in this country which we need to address together with speed — the aviation industry, Government and all the other relevant authorities,” he said.

In 2016, the European Aviation Safety Agency logged 1,400 drone incidents in Europe, up from 606 between 2011 and 2015.

Deputies in the European Parliament approved EU-wide regulations on the use of drones, but still need formal approval from European ministers before taking effect.

Until then, it’s up to individual member states to set their own rules.

In France, civil aviation chiefs have drawn up an interactive map of zones where drones are either restricted or banned. Airports, of course, are off limits.

Charles de Gaulle airport just north of Paris is looking at a long-distance protection system to tackle hostile drones.

But finding high-tech solutions to the drone threat in airport presents particular challenges, says Lucas Le Bell, founder of the start-up Cerbair that specialises in tackling the drone problem.

The noise levels at airports, the security requirements and the saturated level of communications make the task much harder.

His team is working on isolating the frequencies used to control drones, so they can not only detect and locate the devices but take control of them.

Elsewhere in France meanwhile, Mont-de Marsan airbase in the southwest has been working on a more low-tech solution.

The airforce, inspired by a similar experiment in the Netherlands, has been training golden eagles to search and destroy the intruders.

But that system still needs work: earlier this year, one of the eagles attacked a girl after mistaking her vest for the enemy.

Smoke rises day and night from their cooking pits in the La Loma area, which brands itself a hub for producing one of the nation’s favourite foods: “lechon”, or roast suckling pig.

Crews shovel mounds of charcoal into neat rows under the pigs as they cook, gradually darkening into a crispy, caramel-colour.

“In December the demand for pork spikes, starting on the 15th up to the 31st,” said 44-year-old Arturo Ayapana, who has been a lechonero for 15 years. “We start (cooking) at dawn.”

Pork is one of the majority-Catholic country’s year-round staples, a taste introduced during 400 years as a Spanish colony — but consumption goes into overdrive for the holidays.

In La Loma, the roads and sidewalks are darkened and slippery in spots from the grease dripping from cooked pigs, which are hauled between roasting pits and sales stalls on hand carts.

Squealing, still muddy pigs arrive by the truck load, before being slaughtered and skewered on bamboo poles for cooking. They get a final dunking in seasoning before the roasting begins.

Over the next several hours they are slowly spun over the blazing coals by a mechanical crank system that is still turned by hand in many of the pits.

A whole roast pig, which weighs at least 15 kilograms (33 pounds), sells for about $150. That is a small fortune for many in the Philippines, where nearly a quarter of the country lives on less than $2 a day.

“We cannot afford to buy and eat lechon,” Ayapana, the lechonero. “We have to content ourselves with small bites.”

Yet many Filipinos splash out during the holidays, with buyers perusing the pigs displayed on their spits in the rows of lechon stalls in La Loma.

“When you tap it it needs to sound crunchy, like this one,” said farm owner Isiah Elbore as he shopped.

“When it arrives home the skin is the first part to be eaten. It’s a tradition for us (to eat lechon),” he added