No more than 4,000 visitors will be allowed to climb the mountain each day at a fee of €11.50 Mount Fuji seen from Enoshima island, in Japan. File Photo: REUTERS/Molly Darlington Climbers gather on the first day of the climbing season at Mount Fuji on July 1, 2024.
REUTERS/Issei Kato Japan hiked the entry fees and restricted the number of visitors to tackle overcrowding on Mount Fuji as the climbing season kicked off on Monday. The iconic mountain, Japan’s highest, has attracted record numbers of tourists in recent years, leading to complaints about overcrowding, pollution and unruly behaviour. The number of climbers recovered to the pre-pandemic level last year, with about 300,000 going up, the environment ministry said.
This season, no more than 4,000 visitors will be allowed to climb the mountain each day and each will be charged a fee of 2,000 yen (€11.50), nearly twice the rate last year. The new policy kicked in 90 minutes before sunrise on Monday as a newly installed gate opened halfway up the 3,776-metre-high peak.
"I think Mount Fuji will be very happy if everyone is more conscious about the environment and things like taking rubbish home with them," said Sachiko Kan, 61, one of about 1,200 hikers on the first day of the new season. "This is not Disneyland," said Geoffrey Kula, an overseas climber from Boston. "Having some sort of access control system to limit the amount of potential chaos is good.
" Climbers gather on the first day of the climbing season at Mo.
