Mt. Fuji Entry Fees Set at 4,000 Yen

Tokyo, March 17 (Jiji Press)--The Shizuoka prefectural assembly on Monday approved a plan to impose an entry fee of 4,000 yen on Mount Fuji climbers, starting this year's summer hiking season.

The prefectural assembly of Yamanashi, which introduced similar fees last year, earlier this month enacted a plan to double its levies to 4,000 yen.

Officials hope that collecting the fees will help ease congestion and prevent reckless attempts to scale Japan's tallest peak.

Revenues from the fees will be used for safety measures on the 3,776-meter mountain's hiking trails.

Gates will be set up at the fifth stations of trails on both the Yamanashi and Shizuoka sides. They will be closed between 2 p.m. and 3 a.m. the following day to prevent dangerous overnight attempts to reach the top of the mountain.

Yamanashi will continue to limit the number of climbers to 4,000 per day, while Shizuoka will not set such a cap.

Yamanashi collected some 298 million yen in entry fees last year. Its entry restrictions reduced overnight climbers by some 90 pct from the previous year.

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