TOKYO - Japan has re-opened to overseas tourists, summer is here and the official climbing season for Mount Fuji is about to start, but authorities are urging caution when making an assault on Japan’s highest mountain.
Restrictions on movement that applied during the COVID-19 pandemic have been lifted and authorities are expecting a surge in climbers when the iconic symbol of Japan officially opens its scaling season on July 1.
Local authorities fear dangan tozan, literally bullet mountain climbing, which is the term used to describe scaling the 3,776.24 m-high mountain overnight without taking a rest.
Opponents of the rest-free climbs, which the Council for the Promotion of the Proper Use of Mt. Fuji estimates account for one third of all people who scale Japan’s highest mountain, say that it increases the likelihood of altitude sickness and accidents, as well as leads to crowding on the mountain trails. And some say the bullet climbers make the mountain dirtier because they leave their trash there.
Most bullet climbers are looking to climb to the top of the mountain to watch the sunrise from the summit or thereabouts, so start climbing in the early evening to time their arrival for the following dawn. Climbs usually take several hours to complete, and though getting up Mount Fuji is not extreme in terms of mountaineering ability, it is physically demanding. This year marks the first unrestricted climbing season on Mount Fuji since 2019.
Bullet climb opponents are urging people to leave early and stay in one of the huts on the mountain trails, getting a good rest and acclimatizing, and then waking early to resume climbing to watch the sun come up the following morning.
“We’re delighted that lots of people want to climb, but it all becomes nothing if there is an accident,” Osamu Nakamura, chairman of the Mt. Fuji Yoshidaguchi Ryokan Kumiai, an association of managers of huts on Mount Fuji, told Sankei News. “Have fun without overdoing it.”
The association website argues that: “Climbing overnight increases the risk of accidents and altitude sickness because of exhaustion.”
The mayor of Fujiyoshida, the municipality where most of Mount Fuji is located, has formally requested the Tourism Agency to ensure people take steps to climb safely and end the bullet climbing practice. And Yamanashi Prefectural Police are urging people to prepare properly for the climb and not treat it as little more than an extended walk in the park.
Mount Fuji is Japan’s most sacred mountain. June 22 marks the 10th anniversary since Mount Fuji was added to UNESCO’s World Heritage Site list.
The official climbing season for Mount Fuji starts on July 1 and ends on September 10.
