Visitors to Mount Fuji to pay climbing fee of US$14: Report
An aerial view of Mount Fuji, Japan's highest mountain, captured from the window of a passenger jet. (Photo: AFP/Richard A Brooks)
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Climbers hoping to ascend Japan's Mount Fuji when climbing season opens in July will have to pay a 2,000 yen (US$14) fee, the Kyodo news agency reported.
The fee is being implemented at the mountain's most commonly used trail to ease congestion and to fund safety measures, Yamanashi prefecture governor Kotaro Nagasaki was reported as saying on Thursday (Feb 1).
Revenues will be used to implement measures to prevent "bullet climbing" and to build a shelter in case Mount Fuji erupts, a prefectural government source told The Japan Times.
Bullet climbing is an unsafe practice where climbers try to reach the summit of Japan's tallest peak for sunrise in one go without sleeping overnight on the mountain.
The latest fee will be a separate charge from the 1,000 yen that climbers of Mount Fuji are asked to pay on a voluntary basis in the name of supporting the upkeep of the mountain.
On the other hand, Shizuoka Prefecture, which holds three trails, said it is not planning to collect fees other than the current one levied for the purpose of conservation.
Mount Fuji straddles Japan's central Yamanashi and Shizuoka regions and the starting-off point for climbers is about two hours from central Tokyo by train.
Japan's famous snow-capped volcano outside Tokyo is usually open to climbers from July to September, drawing hundreds of thousands who often trek through the night to see the sunrise.
Some people who climb at night "get hypothermia and have to be taken back to first aid stations", a local official told AFP in 2023.
At least one person died while climbing the 3,776m mountain last year.
