Mt Fuji: beautiful, fragile and dangerous

Fuji is a masterpiece of nature, and yet it was included as cultural heritage.

Well, with all due respect, I'd put Mt. Mayon in the Philippines higher on the list, and no, it's not listed as UN Heritage and probably wont be. Good thing, too. True, Mayon is not as tall, but it's a more perfect cone and in a more natural setting.

It was included as a cultural site because it was rejected as a natural due to environmental damage.

I hope this listing will encourage a major cleanup of the mountain and its surrounds.

One of the sites, Shiraito Falls, is a beautiful spring waterfall, but it is spoilt buy a large concrete building plonked right in front of it. Again I hope they will be forced to cleanup the sites that have also been listed as part of the cultural status.

Every year I tell my self "this year I gotta go climbing Fuji san"...but every time then I am put off by the number of people climbing it during the summer...is too many people and would not be that enjoyable listening to all those "eeeeeeeeee....

Don't charge the hikers!! Charge the tour bus operators and the hut scalpers who sell pet bottles for 500Y +, and instant noodles for 1000Y+! Average ppl are already shelling out 10,ooo or more considering the buses, food etc.

Horribly written article- with a title like that and an ominous-feeling introductory two paragraphs (the mountain is watching me!) it meanders off for paragraphs on end about tangential things, leading me to begin believing the dangerous part was going to be the trash. Then it suddenly jumps back to the dangerous volcano theme for 2 brief paragraphs at the end with no in depth or new information to justify reading so far. Just what we already know "it's a volcano and it's been more active recently".

japanisation-

hiking Fuji is like waiting in line to get to the top of an escalator in like a 50 story building there are so many ppl. And as a volcano there is no scenery, no trees, shrubs or birds or animals. Just gravel. Hiking volcanos can be beautiful, but there is only gravel and with all the ppl, on such a big endless volcano as Fuji, not worth it. Enjoy it from the Fuji lakes area. Or if you want to hike, hike in the South Alps (beautiful mountains, probably 10 or 15 mts over 2,500m or 3,000m, with amazing forests and views) and enjoy Fuji from one of those peaks, Aka dake was nice, as were others.

Food and drinks are expensive on mount Fuji, but someone has to get the stuff there in the first place. It's not exactly reasonable to expect that they would cost the same as in the city. I don't see why hiker shouldn't be charged, they are they ones who collectively are trashing the place.

I know that it is watching me...

I think it's got better things to do.

adk99,

that is an excuse. there is a road half way up the mountain. More than one I believe. Most or half of the ppl that work at the huts are college kids on summer break getting paid minimum wage, or some room and board free thing for the "experience" of being in the mountains for the summer. they are the ones carrying the foodstuffs up the mountains. the hut operators are making a big profit, because there is no other store to compete with them. simple monopoly.

"they collectively trash", well, sure, but again the tour operators, gift sellers on the mt and at the base and in all the local towns and cities nearby, are all making an abundance of cash as are the hoteliers, etc etc. And they are the ones bringing in the unwashed masses to hike and make a buck off them. since they are charging that buck, they should pay for maintenance, just like they pay the part time college kids to hike the bottles in, pay them to go around collecting trash.

LOWLY

Thanks for the good suggestion mate..I will definitely give it a try!

Lowly, I'm a hiker in Japan and have climbed Mt. Fuji. I totally agree with you. Before climbing Fuji, it was a beautiful sight to see. After making it to the top, some of that beautiful image has gone. Being old, I hope my memory of the climb will fade away and be replaced by the views I see from the north and south alps. I do love Mt. Fuji .................from a distance.

Just one big spectacular eruption will end the tourist season for good, not too mention end Tokyo as a major city once and for all. It will happen, the only question is when This is what active volcanos do and that is the price for living next to one.

Now me, I only have long term droughts and failed water well to deal with. Ah the joy of living in the desert southwest.

Well one last memory from my climb-

when I got to the top, had hiked all night to see the sunrise like most do, it was cloudy. No sunrise. But that's not the story, it is what I heard. Which was a very distant, but very obviously big-at-its-location sound of (BUM BUM BUM)

I asked someone and was told it was the artillery practice at the US base at the foot of Fuji in Gotemba!

Now it sounds like I'm really putting the whole Fuji thing down. I'm sure not going to hold a cloudy view against a mt, that's not it's fault. It was a hike, with sweat and strain and real satisfaction at the end, and I don't regret going at all. Just that there are better hikes in Japan, a lot better, and Fuji isn't this incredible thing many say it is. It just is what it is. If you gotta get it out of your system, go for it. Enjoy your hikes japanisation.

hereforever,

get some new views from the Alps. Seeing it float out of the clouds almost next to me at 3,100m at sunset was a sight I will remember.

Lowly, if it was that easy to lug bottles up the mountain why don't all the hikers buy at the bottom? Yes, the road goes halfway, and I don't doubt that the people working there are on minimum wage. Quite how that differs from the staff at the convenience store at the bottom of the mountain, I don't know. However it clearly costs a lot more to sell a coke at 3,000m than it does at sea level and frankly I'd rather pay a few hundred yen for the convenience of having someone else carry it up for me. Perhaps that means I'm just not a hiker (and I certainly won't be climbing Fuji again) but there you go. As for getting the businesses to pay for the clean up - well some contribution would be nice, but we don't apply that logic to many other areas of society. They're not chucking the litter so I'm not sure why they should be paying for it to be collected.

ADK,

Well, I personally do carry my own water when I hike, and fill up from any water points on my path. I also always hike out my own trash, including any tissue paper for going to the bathroom, ie toilet paper. That is really what should be the standard.

Nothing in what you wrote is wrong I would say, just you are ignoring the fact that those guys running the huts are getting an enormous amount of money from selling way-overpriced goods to a clientele who are trapped and can't go to a competitor. Trust me it is a very very big business. Their clientele are mostly average ppl with little or no outdoors experience. They actively entice these ppl to come and climb their mountain thru expensive ad campaigns. Why shouldn't they be responsible for cleaning up the mess of the already expensive party they hosted?

Why should someone like me pay extra? That would be real scalping.