SHIZUOKA, Jul 10 (Japan/APP): The climbing season on Mt. Fuji began in full on Thursday as all three trails on the Shizuoka Prefecture side were opened, with all local authorities charging an entrance fee of 4,000 yen ($27).
The most commonly used trail, in neighboring Yamanashi Prefecture, opened on July 1. Both prefectures have introduced measures to discourage overnight “bullet climbing,” or trying to reach the summit of the 3,776-meter mountain, Japan’s highest, in the dark without sleeping in a trailside hut.
The Yoshida trail on the Yamanashi side of the mountain, as well as the Fujinomiya, Gotemba and Subashiri trails on the Shizuoka side are expected to remain open through Sept. 10.
“I couldn’t climb last year because of a typhoon, but I want to see the sunrise on the mountain and then return home,” said 45-year-old Yuji Asato from Yokohama.
From this climbing season, Shizuoka Prefecture started collecting the entrance fee and restricting access to its three trails from 2 p.m. to 3 a.m., while Yamanashi Prefecture has doubled the payment from 2,000 yen charged the previous year to ease overcrowding and reduce the environmental impact.
Unlike the Yoshida trail, which limits climbers to 4,000 per day, the trails on the Shizuoka side do not cap numbers.
Hikers planning to use the three trails on the Shizuoka side are required to sit a course on climbing rules and etiquette and pass a quiz, either in person or on a smartphone app.
Those without an overnight reservation for a mountain hut will be prevented from passing through the gate at the route’s 5th station.
Mt. Fuji, designated a UNESCO World Cultural Heritage site in 2013, attracts hundreds of thousands of climbers each year.