Photo/Illutration Mount Fuji (Asahi Shimbun file photo)

FUJI-YOSHIDA, Yamanashi Prefecture—Restrictions on private vehicles on the roads to Mount Fuji during the climbing season may soon be expanded to include large tour buses and taxis.

Authorities said on Dec. 25 that they aim to implement the expanded restrictions in fiscal 2026.

The private vehicle restrictions on the Fuji Subaru Line, a toll road connecting the base of Mount Fuji to the fifth station, were first introduced for the summer climbing season in fiscal 1994 to protect the mountain’s environment and reduce congestion.

Over the years, the restrictions have gradually expanded. This summer, they were in place for 68 of the 72 days that the mountain was open for climbing. 

However, large tour buses and taxis have remained exempt.

A local committee consisting of municipalities, tourism organizations and national agencies, met in Fuji-Yoshida on Dec. 25.

Participants expressed concerns about the potential harm to Mount Fuji’s environment, noting the increase in taxis with plates from outside the prefecture and large tour buses emitting black smoke amid a surge in foreign tourists.

Data presented at the meeting showed that the number of midsize, large and extra-large vehicles―not including route buses—on the toll road during the private vehicle restriction period increased by around 50 percent, from 7,400 vehicles last year (over 59 days) to 10,900 this year.

Taxis also saw a 60 percent increase, from 2,500 to 4,100 vehicles.

Shigeru Horiuchi, the committee chairman, who is also Fuji-Yoshida’s mayor, noted concerns about the potential increase in these vehicles in the future.

To protect the environment and reduce carbon emissions, he proposed establishing a working group to consider restrictions on large tour buses and taxis. The proposal received broad support from the committee.

The working group’s framework and plans will be refined later, led by the prefectural government, which will serve as the secretariat of the group.

“We are now at a stage where we must consider implementing restrictions,” Horiuchi said in an interview.

He expressed his intention to identify key issues within the next fiscal year and implement the restrictions as much as possible by fiscal 2026.

The committee also decided that next summer’s climbing season for the Yoshida trail, which runs from the fifth station in the prefecture to the summit, will last 72 days, from July 1 to Sept. 10, the same as it did this year.

Additionally, the committee compiled a local proposal to restrict private vehicles on the Fuji Subaru Line from 6 p.m. on July 4 to 6 p.m. on Sept. 10, a total of 69 days. This will be the longest period of vehicle restrictions to date, one day longer than it was this summer.

Electric vehicles and hydrogen fuel cell vehicles will be exempt.

The prefectural government has also announced plans to raise the climbing fee for areas above the fifth station to 4,000 yen ($25) and extend the gate closure hours from 2 p.m. to 3 a.m., starting next summer, aligning with those in Shizuoka Prefecture.

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