According to a regional official on Tuesday, hikers who use the most popular path to ascend Mount Fuji in Japan will start paying $13 per hike starting in July. The price will be capped to reduce traffic and increase safety.
Japan’s tallest peak, which receives over 220,000 people during the July–September climbing season despite being covered in snow for most of the year, is seeing an increasing number of climbers.
Starting on July 1, each individual will need to pay 2,000 yen ($13) to access the Yoshida Trail, which leads up the well-known volcano.
Daily entries to the trail will be capped at 4,000 people, with entry banned between 4:00 pm and 2:00 am, under an ordinance approved Monday by Yamanashi region.
“After Covid restrictions were lifted, we started seeing more people. We want them to dress appropriately for the mountain and be well prepared,” Toshiaki Kasai, an official at the local government, told AFP.
“We will ask visitors to monitor social media for up-to-date information about the daily visitor count,” he added.
Each summer, reports in Japanese media describe tourists climbing Mount Fuji with insufficient mountaineering equipment.
Some sleep on the trail or start fires for heat, while many attempt to reach the 3,776-metre (12,388-foot) summit without breaks and become sick or injured as a result.
The active volcano has three other main routes that will remain free to climb.
But the Yoshida Trail — accessed from Tokyo relatively easily — is the preferred choice for most holidaymakers, with around 60 percent of climbers choosing that route, according to official data.
Mount Fuji is about two hours from central Tokyo by train and can be seen for miles around.
The mountain has been immortalised in countless Japanese artworks, including Hokusai’s world-famous “Great Wave”.
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