Photo/Illutration Foreign tourists take photos of Mount Fuji appearing over a convenience store in Fuji-Kawaguchiko, Yamanashi Prefecture, on April 25. (Yusui Munekata)

FUJI-KAWAGUCHIKO, Yamanashi Prefecture--Town officials here made the “agonizing decision” to erect a massive barrier to block views of Mount Fuji after getting fed up with badly behaved foreign tourists dropping litter everywhere.

As a result, a black plastic sheet 20 meters long and 25 meters high is to be installed on the sidewalk in front of the viewing spot, which happens to be a convenience store. Installation work will begin on April 30, with completion scheduled for May 2.

On the afternoon of April 25, a small number of foreign tourists crowded along part of the sidewalk to see what all the fuss is about, and to snap away, of course.

Pedestrians could not easily pass, and occasionally the 100 or so visitors were practically standing on the side of the two-lane road, coming close to colliding with a passing bus.

On a clear day, 3,776-meter Mount Fuji appears to be sitting on the roof of the Lawson convenience store.

THE SNAP THAT WENT VIRAL

In autumn 2022, a foreign social media influencer posted a photo of Mount Fuji appearing on the roof of the convenience store. The snap went viral.

As a result, hordes of foreign tourists began stopping by to snap photos of their own.

Dentist Koichi Ide, 72, was initially happy that so many people were visiting even though his clinic fronts onto the crowded sidewalk. That was back in winter 2022.

But after a while, garbage began piling up in front of his clinic and patients sometimes found it difficult to enter because the sidewalk was often so crowded.

Ide started asking that people stop gathering in front of his clinic, but his words fell on deaf ears.

In 2023, he began holding talks with the town government about possible measures.

In March of that year, the town government put up signs in English, Chinese and Thai asking that people stop parking illegally, jaywalking and littering the sidewalk.

The town government began posting a security guard at the site except when it was raining. The guards cautioned people to not lean out on the road and to stop jaywalking.

But the tourists took no notice. People still crossed the road even as cars were speeding by, placing pedestrians in danger. Residents complained that it had become too dangerous to drive along that stretch of the road.

Exasperated, the town government put up a “No Crossing” sign on the sidewalk and created a zone with plastic cones around the clinic entrance to give patients access.

From March 2024, the town government began to receive at least three calls a week from residents complaining about the sidewalk congestion. A year earlier, the authorities only received one such call a week.

That led to the decision to install the giant plastic sheet in front of the convenience store.

Three-meter wide steel barriers will also be installed to stop people from crossing the street.

According to the town government, foreign visitor numbers began increasing from 2013 when Mount Fuji was included in the UNESCO World Heritage site list.

While there was a drop during the pandemic, about 100,000 foreign tourists used the information desk at Kawaguchiko Station in 2023. That number is expected to further increase this year.

“We wanted foreign tourists to enjoy themselves, but there was no improvement in the bad manners,” said Masakazu Togawa, who heads the tourism section at the Fuji-Kawaguchiko town government. “More people have been visiting so this installation was an agonizing decision.”

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