Footfall on Mount Fuji has returned to pre-pandemic levels, renewing concerns of litter, lightly dressed hikers and "bullet climbing". - PHOTO ILLUSTRATION: UNSPLASH via The Straits Times/ANN
TOKYO (The Straits Times/ANN): Mountaineers planning to take the most popular Yoshida trail up Mount Fuji will likely have to pay a toll of 2,000 yen (S$18 - RM63.50) come July 2024.
The planned fee is aimed at easing congestion at the landmark and will also fund safety measures, Yamanashi prefecture’s Governor Kotaro Nagasaki told Japanese media on Feb 1.
Footfall on the iconic mountain – which straddles Yamanashi and Shizuoka prefectures – has returned to pre-pandemic levels. This has renewed concerns of litter, lightly dressed hikers and rapid overnight climbing without rest, also known as “bullet climbing”.
The toll will be collected at a gate to be erected at the fifth station on the Yoshida trail in the Yamanashi side of the mountain.
The 3,776m Yoshida trail is one of four trails up the mountain. It is split into 10 stations, with the summit marking the 10th stop.
Revenue from the toll will be used to implement anti-bullet climbing measures and to build a shelter in the event of Mount Fuji, an active volcano, erupting, a prefectural government source told The Japan Times.
The planned fee will be charged on top of the 1,000 yen that hikers are currently asked to donate to support the upkeep of the mountain.
The Yamanashi government will table the proposal for the toll at the prefectural assembly in February, the source added.
During climbing season in the summer of 2023, the number of hikers who passed the eighth station of Mount Fuji from all four routes hit 221,322, comparable with numbers in 2019, according to the Environment Ministry.
More than 60 per cent, or 137,236 of them, used the Yoshida trail, it said.
In August 2023, the Yamanashi government said it would restrict the number of climbers on the Yoshida trail if overcrowding posed a danger, though none have been imposed so far.
In December 2023, it said it would close the trail between 4pm and 2am during the climbing season in 2024 – between July 1 and Sept 10 – to all climbers except those with reservations to sleep in the mountain huts. The move would deter bullet climbers who typically try to catch the sunrise from the peak.
It also said it would limit the number of climbers to 4,000 per day. - The Straits Times/ANN
