Sorry, the screen is now up — no more snapping cute photos of Mt Fuji from a popular pavement spot in the Japanese town of Fujikawaguchiko. Known as a place that offers some of the best views of the iconic Japanese mountain , the town last month started putting up a large black screen on a stretch of a street to block the view and deter tourists from overcrowding the place. A particularly popular photo location was outside a Lawson convenience store, from where a photograph taken at a particular angle would make it seem as if Mt Fuji were sitting atop the store roof.
The tourists, mostly foreigners, even dubbed the spot “Mt Fuji Lawson”. A post shared by SAKAUE YUU (@yu.photo.
0203) But the townspeople were unhappy — visitors would block the narrow pavement, take photos on the busy road or walk into neighbours’ properties in pursuit of their shot, officials said. On Tuesday, construction of the 2.5m-high black mesh net — stretching for 20m along the pavement — was completed.
Still, there are other places tourists can find their sweet photo spot. This week, Yamanashi prefecture, also home to the Yoshida Trail — the most popular of the four routes to summit the 3776m-high mountain — introduced a booking system for this year’s Fuji climbing season to ease overcrowding, littering and safety risks. Under the new plan, only up to 4000 climbers will be allowed to enter the trail daily for a hiking fee of ¥2000 (about $30), with an option of donating a further ¥1.
