Photo/Illutration Twenty-six high school students from the Tohoku region reached the peak of Mount Fuji on July 26. (Kenichiro Saito)

A group of high school students from the Tohoku region reached the peak of Mount Fuji in a project launched to inspire young people from the area devastated by the 2011 earthquake and tsunami.

All 26 students from Miyagi and Fukushima prefectures climbed to the summit, at 3,776 meters above sea level, on the morning of July 26.

“I’ve made it thanks to my fellow students and the organizers who supported us,” said Hanna Atsuumi, a second-year student from Fukushima Prefectural Asaka High School.

“It took courage to join the project, but now I’m glad that I did,” the 17-year-old said with a smile.

Joined by 21 support members that included mountain guides and medical workers, the party started the seven-hour climb before dawn from the sixth station of the mountain.

The annual climbing tour began in 2012 when the late climber Junko Tabei invited high school students from the region to tackle the highest peak in the nation.

Tabei believed the experience would help young people gain confidence and overcome the trauma of the disaster.

Tabei was a native of Fukushima Prefecture and the first woman to conquer the summit of Mount Everest. She passed away in 2016, but a foundation established in her honor continued the project.

The Asahi Shimbun, the education ministry and other organizations support the foundation.

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