Photo/Illutration The website to apply for prior registration for taking the Yoshida route up Mount Fuji, which started taking applications on May 20 (Takuya Ikeda)

KOFU--Yamanashi Prefecture will install cameras on Mount Fuji at two locations including in front of the gate at the fifth station to show interested climbers the current congestion situation. 

It is one of the additional measures the prefecture has released following its announcement to limit the number of climbers who tackle the route from Yamanashi Prefecture to up to 4,000 a day.

According to prefectural officials, video footage from those live cameras will be available on the Official Web Site for Mt. Fuji Climbing.

During the climbing season from July 1 through Sept. 10, the prefecture will place staff at the Mount Fuji and Kawaguchiko stations on the Fujikyuko Line and the Fujisan Parking parking lot where shuttle buses leave for the mountain.

Those staffers will inform climbers going through those three locations of the number of people who have already passed through the gate on the day and restrictions for the climb for this season. 

Yamanashi Prefecture had been deploying staff to instruct in preventing inappropriate behavior such as starting bonfires and falling asleep on the trail.

These employees were available from the fifth station to the top of the mountain on weekends and the Obon holidays, the busiest season, until last year.

The prefecture will further strengthen its vigilance by deploying the staffers even on weekdays this year. 

It will also be enhancing the telecommunications infrastructure for its payment and other systems to help online applications go smoother for climbers coming to the mountain gate.

In addition, the prefecture will survey and analyze the climbers’ trend as a basis for considering further measures for ensuing years.

The prefecture will spend 67.77 million yen ($430,000) on those additional measures from the prefectural reserve fund. The amount includes 25.36 million yen for educating the public about the restrictions and 19.28 million yen for increasing the number of instructors.

“We will do our best urgently to ease possible confusion," Yamanashi Governor Kotaro Nagasaki said at a regular news conference on May 29.

He said the prefecture already accepted as many as 14,103 prior registrations from climbers during the 10 days from May 20 to 29.

As of May 28, 742 people have already booked to climb on July 20, the most heavily booked date.

The number of bookings is increasing and weekends are popular. But there are still enough vacancies for the daily limit of 3,000 for prior reservations.

The prefecture accepted 6,849 bookings, the most for the prior registration system, on May 20, when the system started.

On May 21, there were 2,822 bookings and on May 22, 1,035 reservations. After May 23, the number of applications slowed and less than 1,000 bookings have been made daily since then.

“There is no need to rush," a prefectural official said in making a reservation. "Please take some time to think about hiking plans.”

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