The Shizuoka Prefectural Government is considering collecting entry fees of ¥3,000 ($19) to ¥5,000 per head from people climbing Mount Fuji from the prefecture's side, beginning next summer, officials said Thursday.
The fees are designed to prevent overcrowding on trails to 3,776-meter Mount Fuji and discourage dangerous overnight attempts to scale the tallest mountain in the country.
At a meeting with a local council promoting safe climbing of Mount Fuji, the prefectural government also presented the ideas of requiring prior learning of mountaineering rules and manners and barring climbers from all three trails on the Shizuoka side during the night, except for those who have booked accommodation in mountain huts.
While implementing those regulations, the government plans to abolish the existing "voluntary conservation cooperation" fee of ¥1,000.
To put the plans into practice, it intends to propose an ordinance to the prefectural assembly in February next year.
During this year's climbing season for Mount Fuji, which straddles Shizuoka and Yamanashi prefectures, a daily limit of 4,000 climbers and an entry fee of ¥2,000 per head were imposed by the Yamanashi Prefectural Government for the first time.
The Shizuoka government introduced a voluntary registration system, but did not implement entry regulations.
In the period, from early July to early September, the number of people climbing the mountain, one of the country's most iconic landmarks, totaled some 204,000, down some 8% from the previous year's season.
The number of climbers at night decreased significantly on the sole trail on the Yamanashi side due to the installation of a temporary gate to ease congestion.
With your current subscription plan you can comment on stories. However, before writing your first comment, please create a display name in the Profile section of your subscriber account page.