By SHIMPACHI YOSHIDA/ Senior Staff Writer
June 16, 2023 at 18:08 JST
Climbers at Kitahozawa, Nagano Prefecture, on May 3 (Okuto Ko)
A record 3,506 people were stranded in mountains in Japan in 2022, when outdoor recreational activities regained momentum following eased rules on COVID-19, National Police Agency data showed on June 15.
That was up 431 from the previous year and was the highest figure since 1961, when such statistics were first collected.
The climbers were involved in 3,015 mountain accidents, up 380 from the previous year and also a record high, the data showed.
Of the 3,506 climbers, 1,306, up 149, were injured, while 327, up 44, died or remain missing.
By age group, people in their 70s accounted for the largest proportion, at 23.5 percent, followed by those in their 60s, at 20.2 percent.
More than half of the stranded climbers, or 50.7 percent, were 60 or older.
By location, 194 people were stranded in the Chichibu mountains in the Kanto region, an increase of 66 from the average of the last five years.
That was followed by Mount Takaosan in western Tokyo, with 108 people, up 30, stranded.
Sixty-three, up 8, were stranded on Mount Fuji, while 61, up 3, needed help in the Hotaka mountain range in central Japan.
Police are urging climbers to be fully prepared, even for smaller mountains and short hiking trips, and to avoid peaks that are too challenging for them.
Mountain accidents have been increasing over the past few decades with the rise in popularity of climbing.
After peaking in 2018, the number of people stranded in mountains dropped briefly before turning upward in 2021.
The NPA also said there were 1,346 cases of water accidents in 2022, down 49 from the previous year, involving 1,640 people, up 15.
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