Mount Fuji is the tallest, and most popular mountain in Japan and it is located about 100 miles from Tokyo. It is a major tourist attraction because of its size and its location right next to Tokyo. It gets 300,000 thousand visitors per year with a majority being foreigners. The great number of tourists has caused trouble with them being accused of leaving trash and illegally parking to try and get better views of the mountain. The problem has also caused injuries because many hike up the mountain and leave trash or get crowded up together which can cause them to trip and fall. To solve this problem the Japanese government has fined $13 to hike up the mountain, to hopefully reduce the amount of people. They have also set up stations to block viewings of Fuji to stop the alleged illegal parking and littering. To further prevent injuries with hiking they set up a capacity limit of 4,000 at a time. A curfew has been set from 4 pm to 2 am to stop “bullet climbs” which are climbs without breaks. Climbing up the 3,776-meter tall mountain could cause a lot of injury so this is a good measure to prevent it. Some of these restrictions have been implemented in other major tourist spots in Japan, the most notable being Kyoto. Kyoto is a very historic city in Japan with a lot of culture. It used to be the capital of Japan so it has a lot of ancient structures and customs. Like Mt. Fuji, it has become crowded with tourists coming to see the city. This has caused problems with overcrowding, and tourists being rude and not treating the locals well. This got to the point where back in 2019, the government had to hand out leaflets and air multi-language channels to remind tourists to be polite. In countries like Japan which has a lot of history and culture, there will always be many tourists from many different backgrounds, but no matter where you go treat the locals and their property with respect.
