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Julian Ryall

On a clear summer morning at Mount Fuji’s fifth-station trailhead, the crowds look more beach ready than alpine prepared with canvas slip-ons, bare legs and lightweight jackets.
Above them, Japan’s most famous peak rises to 3,776 metres (12,389 feet) and into sub-zero temperatures, even in July.
For Tatsuo Nanai, a veteran climber and until recently secretary general of the Fuji‑san Club, the scene has become a source of dread.
Japan’s official climbing season has only just begun, but he says he is already “very worried” about the number of people who will need rescuing – and the lives that will be lost – before the trails close again in mid-September.
“Too many people underestimate Mount Fuji,” Nanai told This Week in Asia. “For anyone who takes it lightly, it can be very dangerous.”

Last year, Japan recorded a new high in mountain emergencies, with 3,623 people having to be rescued and 332 deaths, according to National Police Agency data.
The biggest problem is the tourists who are under‑equipped for the rigours of hiking at altitude, according to Nanai. They overestimate their own abilities and do not realise that it can be below freezing at the summit, even when it is a hot day in Tokyo.
On a clear day, Fuji is visible from the capital and its iconic status, appearing in guidebooks and Instagram feeds the world over, means many visitors treat it as just another must-see to tick off.
“I’ve seen people setting off from the fifth-station trailhead in canvas beach shoes and shorts,” Nanai said. “They don’t have a hat, rain gear or enough food … These are the people who typically end up needing to be helped off the mountain.”

Foreign tourists are easy to single out when things go wrong, but rescue statistics do not support the notion that foreigners are the main group needing help, regardless of what local media reports might say.
Less than 2 per cent of last year’s fatalities involved a foreign national – six deaths in total – with just 264 foreigners involved in accidents, emergencies, or roughly one in 14 of the incidents recorded.
Still, any helicopter evacuations of ill-equipped visitors that do happen are virtually guaranteed to make headlines, feeding into narratives about “misbehaving” tourists and overtourism.

In April, a Chinese university student became a lightning rod for online anger after being rescued from Mount Fuji twice in four days – first after losing his crampons and mobile phone and suffering altitude sickness, then after a fall at around 3,000 metres (9,840 feet) that left him needing to be carried down the mountain on a stretcher.
In May, a police helicopter was dispatched to pluck two British hikers from Mount Yotei in northern Hokkaido after they called an emergency hotline, saying they were too cold to continue. Television footage later showed the pair in shorts and thin jackets, fuelling accusations that they had treated a hike up an active volcano like a stroll in the park.
After a series of recent off‑season incidents, Hidetada Sudo, mayor of Fujinomiya – one of the main gateway towns to Mount Fuji that operates and funds local rescue teams – publicly called for a blanket ban on climbing the mountain outside the recognised summer window.

Sudo later backed away from demanding an outright ban, throwing his support instead behind calls for hikers to be forced either to pay the cost of emergency evacuations themselves or to prove they have insurance that will cover their rescue.
Nanai also supports such measures. “Having insurance, especially if someone has to use a helicopter, seems like a sensible precaution,” he said. “I do not think that people take hiking in Japan seriously enough.”
Naoki Kobayashi, an official with the prefectural government of Shizuoka that manages three of the four paths to the top of Mount Fuji, said the main cause of accidents on the mountain was “a lack of basic knowledge of the climb or a failure to properly prepare”.
“A failure to observe the rules and etiquette can also inconvenience others,” he said. “Even in summer, Mount Fuji has unique geographical conditions and even foreigners who have lived in Japan for a long time may find themselves in life-threatening situations if they lack the appropriate knowledge.”
Shizuoka’s prefectural government was working with neighbouring Yamanashi prefecture on a proposal to introduce mandatory insurance, Kobayashi said.
“But human life takes absolute priority,” he said. “If a system was introduced that requires individuals to bear the cost, there is a risk that a rescue would be delayed depending on whether payment could be paid or not.”
Seasoned mountaineers argue that access to better information on the risks involved would help prevent emergencies, especially among tourists.
Kentaro Hirokawa, vice-president of the Japan Mountaineering and Sport Climbing Association, said the growing number of foreign hikers on Fuji, and off-piste skiers in the winter months, were working from patchy, inconsistent guidance.
“Foreigners utilise information about Japanese mountains and backcountry areas in their respective languages, but a major problem is that there are significant differences in the information regarding required time, technical difficulty and the perceived risks,” Hirokawa said.

“This is not just a problem for beginners or foreigners,” he added. “We are seeing mountaineering accidents among middle-aged and older Japanese people. I do not think we can apply restrictions only to foreigners, but we do need to provide them with better information in multiple languages.”
Recent incidents in Nagano prefecture, home to some of Japan’s most famous peaks, show how quickly public sentiment can turn against foreign visitors.
On July 12, three Malaysian and Singaporean women had to be rescued from Mount Hakuba in Japan’s Northern Alps after becoming so fatigued at around 2,600 metres (8,500 feet) that they could no longer move, local broadcaster NBS reported.
Online commenters were quick to criticise, accusing the women of attempting climbs beyond their capabilities, lacking proper equipment and not treating the country’s mountains with the respect they deserve.
“It’s time to seriously consider implementing mandatory climbing plans, mandatory insurance and high entrance fees,” one wrote, blaming such incidents on “irresponsible behaviour”. Another post stated that “climbing high mountains in summer attire after coming from a tropical country is suicidal” and called for rescue services to charge such “reckless climbers” or insist on mandatory insurance.

Yet when NBS reported days later that a 49‑year‑old Japanese man had broken his ankle in a fall on Mount Hotaka and summoned a rescue helicopter, the tone online was markedly different. The trail was described as “tough”, and calling for help was praised as “a wise decision”.
For Paul Christie, founder of specialist tourism operator Walk Japan, that contrast helps explain why foreign hikers often draw the internet’s fury.
Japanese hikers were presumed to “always abide by the rules” and be more responsible, he said.
Christie believes the issue has attracted so much attention that new regulations are now inevitable and, in some respects, overdue.
“In France, anyone who needs to be rescued by helicopter from a mountain has to cover that cost and I think that would be the easiest thing to do here as well,” he said. “People should be clearly warned of the dangers and the possible costs of being evacuated.”
But he was wary of framing the problem as a strictly foreigners vs locals debate.
“This is not unique to Japan,” Christie said. “How many Japanese are helped off mountains in other parts of the world every year? Both sides just need to be better prepared.”


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Japan scapegoats foreigners as mountain rescue numbers rise

A traveller walks past an image of Mount Fuji in the arrivals terminal at an airport in Tokyo in May. Photo: AFP

People take photos of the sunrise atop Mount Fuji on July 1, the first day of the official climbing season for Japan’s highest mountain. Photo: Kyodo

Hikers make their way up Mount Fuji in 2024 as the summer climbing season was about to begin. Photo: Kyodo

Tourists are seen at Mount Fuji’s fifth station, the highest point accessible by road and the primary starting point for hikers. Photo: AFP

A traveller walks past an image of Mount Fuji in the arrivals terminal at Haneda Airport in Tokyo in May. Photo: AFP

Hikers descend from the summit of Mount Fuji. Local officials have called for a ban on climbing the mountain at inhospitable times of year. Photo: Shutterstock

People take pictures of Mount Fuji from a viewing area in Yamanashi prefecture, Japan. Photo: EPA-EFE

The Hotaka mountain range in Japan’s Northern Alps. Tourism operators say Japanese hikers are often presumed to be more responsible than foreigners. Photo: Getty Images

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Tourists travel on a subway train to Tokyo’s city centre from Narita International Airport. Photo: AFP

Tourists crowd around a suspension bridge in Kamikochi, a highland resort in Japan’s Nagano prefecture, in April. Photo: Kyodo

Tourists visit Tokyo’s Asakusa district last month. Tourism, domestic and inbound combined, accounts for roughly 5.6 per cent of Japan’s gross domestic product. Photo: Kyodo

Foreign tourists take selfies with a statue of Buddha in the Asakusa area of Tokyo in April. Last year, 42.7 million foreign visitors arrived in Japan, a record. Photo: Getty Images/TNS/AFP

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Officials in Japan want the government to approve rules requiring climbers to pay for off-season rescue. Photo: Shutterstock

Hikers pay a hiking fee to climb Mount Fuji via the Yoshida trail. Photo: AFP

Local officials say climbers attempting to ascend Mount Fuji must be experienced. Photo: AFP

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Locals make up the vast majority of Japan’s mountain rescues, yet internet anger is largely reserved for ill-equipped tourists


Locals make up the vast majority of Japan’s mountain rescues, yet internet anger is largely reserved for ill-equipped tourists.


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Japan scapegoats foreigners as mountain rescue numbers rise

.css-1c6uqr6{color:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-size:inherit;font-family:inherit;line-height:inherit;overflow-wrap:break-word;}Locals make up the vast majority of Japan’s mountain rescues, yet internet anger is largely reserved for ill-equipped tourists

Locals make up the vast majority of Japan’s mountain rescues, yet internet anger is largely reserved for ill-equipped tourists