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| Above, a Shinkansen view of Mount Fuji. Photo by Armand Vaquer. |
It appears that Japan's Mount Fuji has a problem: too many tourists.
Years back, hiking Japan's volcanic symbol was somewhat a rarity. Not so many people hiked it. Today, the mountain is drawing too many people, causing an ecological problem for the mountain and a headache for authorities.
The Straits Times reported:
TOKYO - With its millions of visitors every year and the buses, supply trucks, noodle shops and fridge magnets, Japan’s Mount Fuji is no longer the peaceful pilgrimage site it once was.
Now the authorities have had enough, saying the number of hikers trekking up the world-famous volcano – night and day – is dangerous and an ecological embarrassment.
“Mount Fuji is screaming,” the governor of the local region said last week.
Hailing its religious importance and its inspiration to artists, Unesco in 2013 added the “internationally recognised icon of Japan” to its World Heritage List.
But as has happened in places such as Bruges in Belgium or Rio de Janeiro’s Sugarloaf Mountain, the designation has been both a blessing and a curse.
Visitor numbers more than doubled between 2012 and 2019 to 5.1 million, and that is just for Yamanashi prefecture, the main starting point.
To read more, go here.
1 comment:
Sad to see Japanese officials scapegoating "foreigners" for problems on Mt. Fuji. I first climbed it in 1985, when climbers were 99.9% Japanese, and was appalled that many areas looked like a garbage dump. I might add that I climbed in shorts and a T-shirt and had a lovely time, it was not at all "like winter" at the top. Finally, if one person died this year (for unspecified reasons, maybe they had a heart attack due to being vaccinated?) out of 5 million climbers, what does that signify? Only that you're more likely to be struck by lightning than die while climbing Mt. Fuji. Combined with the hike in the Japan Rail Pass and other recent measures, this just sounds like more crap from the "Great" Reset gang to discourage travel and tourism by anyone that doesn't have a private jet.
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