Chou Mori Institution

Photographic by Jamie-Knop

**Chou Mori Institution** is a now-defunct mental hospital in the *Wonderland* series. This is where the Tandeki Group did most of their experiments before it was shut down and moved to Rampo Biotech.

## Background

Chou Mori was founded in 1965 by a man named Genji Kozue as a place of good intentions for helping cure mentally ill people and re-introducing them back into society. He purchased 633.913 acres out near Aokigahara forest and had the building built on the property. For five years, it was one of the top institutions in Japan.

## Hell on Earth

Somewhere along the way, something went wrong with Chou Mori. On July 10th, 1970, Genji died of heart disease. Due to him bragging about his good health, many suspected that he had been poisoned, but they couldn't figure out the motive. Because of Genji's death, Chou Mori faced two problems: lack of funds and overcrowding. From 1970 to 2013, management changed hands. The institution ended up being sold nearly over eight times. From there, things grew worse. In the nineties, the treatment of the staff became brutal. By 2000, a cook hanged himself in the kitchen after craving on the wall near the gas stove, "I do not want to work for the Devil anymore." The staff tried to say he had depression, but his mother believed it was work-related stress. An orderly jumped to her death in from of the oncoming train in Ikebukuro station. A second orderly had to be restrained by doctors and therapists before he could set himself on fire on the institution grounds. As a result, an internal investigation was conducted on working conditions at Chou Mori. Afterwards, things got better for a short time.

## Tandeki Experiments

### Project Tadpole

*Main Article: Project Tadpole*

The origin of Project Tadpole came about when Kitano became curious about what happened after the Woman in Red destroyed the world. So, he decided to create a "witness" to the aftermath. It started with creating the drug Amaterasu. At first, he couldn't get the formula right. But after he recruited Etsuko, she fixed the formula and the project picked off of the ground. The Tadpole Project would go through three cycles before Chou Mori would be shut down for good.

### Project Angel

*Main Article: Project Angel*

The project started off as an accident. One of the failed tadpoles wouldn't die. Kitano tried to kill her, but she wouldn't die. Unsure of what to do with the subject, they kept her caged up. She was close to dying, but wouldn't die. That all changed when she got a taste of blood.

## Shut Down

Chou Mori was finally shut up in 2013. Two years before that, they came under investigation from the feds. Even though it's been shut down, the scars remain.

## Layout

Chou Mori had thirteen wards. Some of them were abandoned and came in quite handy to the Tadpole Project. By the 80's, the place looked like it needed to be in repair. Most of the clocks do not appear to be working.

### Lobby

By 1987, the lobby is described as falling apart. The walls need to be painted. The cobwebs are catching dust on the ceiling. Meanwhile, the ceiling looked like it needs to be dusted. Plus, there is no air conditioning running. The windows look dim and don't appear to be open. The clock looks to be broken. There are chairs along the wall.

### Day Room

In 1987, the pale yellow walls were chipping and in need of a paint job. They are also covered in drawings and writings from the mental patients over the years. The metal furniture looks like something out of a child's classroom though they need to be repainted and fixed. There is a TV in the day room and the clock looks to be broken as well.

### Guillotine Hill

Guillotine Hill was an abandoned ward on the east side of Chou Mori. Initially, it was unused and there were many talks about closing it down. Kitano and Etsuko found it perfect for their Tadpole Project experiments. They kept the doors locked for the first three days of the first generation. Room B was where the Amaterasu experiment took place.

### Candy Land

Candy Land was the children's section of Chou Mori. Children and childlike adults would be place here. It's decorated like a child's playroom. There was a rumor that a ghost of a little girl haunted this section.

### Basement

Kitano and Etsuko kept F and the other angels down in the basement because they didn't know what to do with them at the time. Plus, this was there they disposed of the bodies of their failed tadpoles.

## Staff and Residents

### Staff Members

* Genji Kozue (Founder and original director; deceased)
* Unnamed director (Director in 1987)
* Unnamed receptionist (Receptionist in 1987)
* Katsuhiro Kitano (Therapist/Doctor)
* Yuka Ogawa (Orderly)
* Junko Nakahara (Nurse)
* Etsuko Asato (Doctor)
* Yayoi Shiga (Orderly)
* Roc Segawa (Orderly)
* Akihito Iseki (Orderly)
* Yuzuru Marusa (Orderly)
* Mariko Fuchigami (Nurse from 1997 to 2006; deceased)
* Soma Suzuki (Orderly; deceased)
* Junji Ito (Orderly; deceased)
* Koizumi-sensei (Doctor; deceased)
* Oshiro-sensei (Doctor; deceased)
* Koshima-sensei (Doctor; deceased)
* Akai Takuma (Therapist from 2011 to 2012)

### Patients

* Mikado Ryuugamine/Chirin
* Hyacinth Girl/Noriko Ishikawa
* Satoshi Aida (Deceased)
* Emily Akimoto (Deceased)
* Tetsu Aso
* Nami Shono
* Kohaku Kimio
* Akiko Koike
* Satomi Inaba (Deceased)
* Midori Amano
* Azusa Kibuishi (Deceased)
* Madoka Kurosawa
* Anzu Oshima
* Sota Iseya
* Megumi Fukao
* Riku Ishii
* Naomi Aizawa
* Itori Inaba
* Yukio Miwa
* Saori Usui
* Chiharu Hashimoto/F
* Erina Kate
* Hifumi Ushimaru
* Haru Noda
* Honoka Noda
* Norio Ono
* Reo Tachibana
* Shuichi Azuma
* Sur
* Tomoya Tokiwa
* Yamato Kato
* Yukari Chiba
* Taishi Sato
* Shingo Kawakita
* Chie Sakamoto
* Miya Chang

## Trivia

* Chou Mori is inspired by real-life Pennhurst Asylum and Briarcliff Asylum from the show *American Horror Story: Asylum*.