FEATURE: Possible eruption ahead over proposed fee for climbing Mt. Fuji

KOFU, Japan, Nov. 4 Kyodo - Municipal leaders are proposing imposing an ''entry fee'' on climbers of Mt. Fuji to assist in environmental conservation after a record 430,000 people scaled Japan's highest peak this past summer.

Led by Fujiyoshida Mayor Shigeru Horiuchi, the leaders and other local
officials in Yamanashi Prefecture have voiced concerns about the destruction of
the environment and an increase in the number of people injured while climbing
the mountain.
Horiuchi touched off moves for such a fee when he told a news conference on
Sept. 2, ''We should consider charging entry fees'' in the future.
The number of visitors to the city en route to the northern entrance to the
3,776-meter mountain this summer increased by more than 50,000 from last
summer, resulting in a shortage of parking space and public lavatories. Both
the number of people injured and the number of accidents also rose.
The mayor indicated a desire to use the proposed fee for the maintenance of
facilities for the preservation of the environment.
At a news conference on Sept. 3, Yamanashi Gov. Shomei Yokouchi supported
Horiuchi's idea, saying, ''It fully deserves consideration. I would like to
have it studied by local municipalities.''
Yoshiyasu Watanabe, mayor of the town of Fujikawaguchiko, said he was in favor
of Horiuchi's idea and added that such a fee would contribute to the
improvement of the environment at a time when parties concerned are pushing for
Mt. Fuji's listing on the UNESCO World Heritage List.
However, Yamanashi municipalities face the problem of clearing a hurdle with
their peers in neighboring Shizuoka Prefecture since the long dormant mountain,
which last erupted in 1707, towers over the two prefectures.
An official of the town office of Oyama in Shizuoka Prefecture said, ''We can't
say anything because we haven't had any formal talks.'' The town in the
northeastern part of the prefecture is noted for its climber-friendly
''Subashiri-guchi'' entry route to Fuji.
The upper portion of the mountain from the so-called ''eighth station'' onward
is owned by the grand shrine of Fujisan Hongu Sengentaisha in Fujinomiya,
Shizuoka Prefecture. The mountain's paths to the summit from Yamanashi and
Shizuoka are owned by the two prefectures respectively.
Some people say the question of who has the right to collect such an entry fee
may become a problem.
Kazuo Okuwaki, assistant chief of the Mt. Fuji section of the Fujiyoshida
municipality, said, ''We'd like to study the feasibility of the introduction of
an entry fee in cooperation with the prefectural government and neighboring
city, town and village offices.''
A Yamanashi prefectural government official involved in trying to get UNESCO's
approval for Fuji to be put on the Word Heritage List said an entry fee is
''one way'' of dealing with the environment.
Contributions ranging from 300 yen to 500 yen per person at parts of the
Shirakami mountain range on the border of Aomori and Akita prefectures and Yaku
Island in Kagoshima Prefecture are collected on a voluntary basis for the
purpose of environmental conservation.
Both the Shirakami mountain range and Yaku Island, famous for its natural
forest of Japanese ''yaku sugi'' cedars more than 1,000 years old, are on the
World Heritage List.
The village offices of Okinawa's Izena and Iheya collect 100 yen per person in
an ''environmental protection tax'' from Okinawan residents and others entering
the isolated islands.
On the other hand, the Hatsukaichi city government in Hiroshima Prefecture has
decided not to introduce a tax for entry to Miyajima, the site of Itsukushima
Shrine on the World Heritage List, for fear it may lead to a decline in the
number of tourists.
Travel agents handling trips to Mt. Fuji are also naturally worried about a
potential drop in visitors.
==Kyodo