FUJIYOSHIDA, Yamanashi Prefecture--A climbing fee and cap on daily visitor numbers have been introduced for the first time at Mount Fuji, where the climbing season starts July 1.

The measures are aimed at easing congestion and ensuring safety on the most popular route, the Yoshida trail from Yamanashi Prefecture, which is used by about 60 percent of climbers aiming to scale Japan’s tallest peak.

Visitor numbers are capped at 4,000 per day, excluding those who have reservations at one of the huts along the winding trail to the 3,776-meter peak where climbers can buy refreshments and spend the night.

The huts are scattered from the sixth to eighth stations.

While slots for up to 3,000 climbers may be booked in advance, the remaining 1,000 will be left for those who show up without prior registration.

There is now a toll charge of 2,000 yen ($12.43) per climber. The revenue will be used to cover the costs for security personnel and improve the climbing trail.

Visitors will be permitted to pass a wooden entrance gate installed at the fifth station, roughly halfway up the mountain, only between 3 a.m. and 4 p.m. unless they have reservations at a mountain hut.

The new rules are the first to be introduced at a mountain in Japan, prefectural officials said.

A dress rehearsal was held June 19 so prefectural officials and security personnel could run through procedures; for example, guiding visitors from the toll booth to the entrance gate, responding to those in light, unsafe attire and dealing with non-Japanese people without a prior booking.

Yamanashi Governor Kotaro Nagasaki said the measures are aimed at helping to combat overtourism.

The climbing season runs through Sept. 10.

The Yoshida trail was followed by 137,000 people last year, close to the pre-pandemic level, according to figures counted at its eighth station.

This year, the number of foreign visitors is expected to increase further, partly due to the weak yen.

But the capacity of mountain huts remains at 50 to 60 percent of the pre-pandemic level after the lodgings created private guest rooms and took other measures to prevent novel coronavirus infections.

CURBING RECKLESS ‘BULLET CLIMBERS’

The policy of closing the entrance gate at 4 p.m. is aimed at curbing “bullet climbers,” who walk overnight to watch the sunrise at the peak above cloud level where the air is thin.

Last summer, 44 bullet climbers visited a first-aid center at the eighth station. Many of them complained of symptoms of altitude sickness, caused by an excessively rapid ascent.

A Fujiyoshida city official who was stationed at the first-aid center came across a row of more than 100 climbers walking along the trail before dawn.

There was a danger of them falling over like dominoes or causing rocks to cascade down the slope.

“If the weather had suddenly turned for the worse, there could have been a disaster,” the official said.

Previously, prefectural officials talked visitors out of climbing if there were concerns about their safety due to their inappropriate climbing attire and other factors.

However, there are concerns that some climbers might refuse to comply on grounds they paid the toll.

As a result, prefectural authorities plan to beef up the number of personnel who patrol along the trail and give instructions to climbers by more than three-fold to 210 this summer.

FALLOUT IN SHIZUOKA PREFECTURE?

Mount Fuji straddles Yamanashi and Shizuoka prefectures.

The new rules along the Yoshida trail have raised concerns that bullet climbers could turn to three trails in Shizuoka Prefecture, which has not yet introduced any such restrictions.

Starting this summer, prefectural officials will ask visitors to voluntarily register their climbing plans and call on those without reservations at a mountain hut to refrain from climbing the mountain after 4 p.m.

In the future, Shizuoka prefectural authorities plan to consider introducing a similar toll and cap on visitor numbers.

Because the trails in Shizuoka Prefecture are on state-owned land up until the eighth stations, prefectural authorities are required to consult with the central government before installing an entrance gate, officials said.

Yoshihiro Sataki, a professor of tourism at Josai International University in Chiba Prefecture, said the curbs introduced in Yamanashi Prefecture reflect a situation that is unique to Mount Fuji.

While sightseeing destinations like Kyoto are grappling with overtourism, the safety of climbers has not been threatened on other mountains, Sataki noted.

“Mount Fuji is probably the only mountain where climbers are allowed to enter only for about two months a year, have to stay at mountain huts, in principle, and face the risk of altitude sickness,” he added.

(This article was written by Takuya Ikeda and Yusui Munekata.)