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Japan hiked the entry charges and restricted the variety of guests to sort out overcrowding on Mount Fuji because the climbing season kicked off on Monday.
The enduring mountain, Japan’s highest, has attracted report numbers of vacationers in recent times, resulting in complaints about overcrowding, air pollution and unruly behaviour.
The variety of climbers recovered to the pre-pandemic stage final 12 months, with about 300,000 going up, the atmosphere ministry mentioned.
This season, not more than 4,000 guests can be allowed to climb the mountain every day and every can be charged a charge of two,000 yen (£9.8), practically twice the speed final 12 months.
The brand new coverage kicked in 90 minutes earlier than dawn on Monday as a newly put in gate opened midway up the three,776-metre-high peak.
“I believe Mount Fuji can be very blissful if everyone seems to be extra acutely aware in regards to the atmosphere and issues like taking garbage house with them,” mentioned Sachiko Kan, 61, one in all about 1,200 hikers on the primary day of the brand new season.
“This isn’t Disneyland,” mentioned Geoffrey Kula, an abroad climber from Boston. “Having some type of entry management system to restrict the quantity of potential chaos is nice.”
Climbers can be given wristbands to entry the climbing path from 3am to 4pm, authorities mentioned.
However guests staying in mountain huts nearer to the height gained’t be subjected to the day by day restrict, they added.
Hikers usually begin within the wee hours to make it to the highest in time for dawn.
Supporting the brand new measures, Yamanashi governor Kotaro Nagasaki mentioned final month that they had been obligatory to stop accidents and incidents of altitude illness, significantly amongst international “bullet climbers”, or those that race as much as the highest.
Japan ought to concentrate on attracting “increased spending guests” over sheer numbers of individuals, he added.
The climbing season lasts till 10 September.
It could get extraordinarily chilly on the mountain even in summer time and going up with correct climbing gear, boots and clothes is essential. Trekkers are additionally susceptible to altitude illness in the event that they ascend too rapidly.
At the very least 4 individuals had been discovered lifeless on Mount Fuji final week, prompting a warning in opposition to scaling it earlier than the climbing season started.
Three individuals had been present in a state of cardiac arrest inside a crater on the summit of the mountain whereas a fourth died after collapsing on the north facet.
An lively stratovolcano whose final eruption was in 1707, Mount Fuji has been a website of Shinto and Buddhist worship for hundreds of years.
Mount Fuji attracts thousands and thousands of individuals to Japan yearly.
The city of Fujikawaguchiko in Yamanashi lately erected a big black display screen alongside a pavement to dam a well-liked view of Mount Fuji to discourage photo-taking crowds.
