Fujinomiya mayor wants people hiking unopened trails to think about someone other than just themselves.
The climbing season for Mt. Fuji runs from early July to early September, but unfortunately the Mt. Fuji hiker rescue season ends up being longer. Every year, a number of hikers ignore the warnings and take to the trails when they’re still officially closed, then end up needing rescue teams or other emergency services to help them get home from Japan’s tallest mountain. The most recent incident occurred earlier this month when a Chinese tourist fell down on embankment next to the Fujinomiya Trail and suffered injuries to his hand and leg, eventually requiring an ambulance to come and pick him up.
Fujinomiya isn’t just the name of one of the Mt. Fuji hiking trails. It’s also the name of one of the cities at the foot of the mountain, and Fujinomiya mayor Hidetada Sudo isn’t at all happy about hikers who are too impatient to wait for the trail to open. During a press conference on May 11, Sudo called out hikers who break the rules and pointed out that they’re not the only ones whose lives they may be putting in danger with out-of-season hiking, and admonished them for their inability or unwillingness to look at their actions from a sufficiently wide perspective, saying
“[Out-of-season hikers] are not taking responsibly for their actions. The attitude of ‘If I need to be rescued, someone will come save me’ is ridiculous.”
It’s not just the sense of entitlement that Sudo criticized. The very fact that rescues need to be performed proves that Mt. Fuji can be a dangerous place to be moving around, and those risks don’t get any easier to manage if you have to carry out someone who’s become injured or otherwise immobilized. The video below shows footage from a rescue operation that had to be carried out on Mt. Fuji this past March, with rescue workers having to slide a sled with an out-of-season hiker down the mountain during a nighttime snowstorm.
▼ Sudo’s press conference remarks follow the rescue footage.
“If rescue workers themselves are injured during these operations, it is unbearably infuriating for their families and supervisors. These out-of-season hikers have got to be kidding me,” the exasperated Sudo said, and many online commenters share the sentiment, some with the intensity dial turned up a few extra notches.
“You tell ‘em, Mr. Mayor!”
“They should make it a clear-cut rule that out-of-season hikers won’t be rescued for free.”
“We make it the rule that they have to take responsibility by covering the costs of their own rescues already…I think most people would be in favor of that policy.”
“No need to rescue them. Let their families pay the cost of picking up their bodies.”
“Out-of-season hikers should have to pay a fine.”
“They should make it an arrestable offense.”
Sudo’s remarks come exactly one year and two days after a press conference he gave in May of 2025 in which he voiced his anger at out-of-season hikers. While this year’s exact trail opening dates have yet to be announced, they’ll most likely be sometime in early July, and hopefully there won’t need to be any more rescue operations over the next two months.
Source: FNN Prime Online via Hachima Kiko, YouTube/FNNプライムオンライン
Top image: Pakutaso
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