Full Breakdown
Mount Fuji Introduces Off-Season Rescue Fees and Summer Trail Toll to Curb Reckless Climbing
By Drooid · · How we work
New Measures Target Off-Season Risks and Summer Crowds
From the 2025 climbing season, Yamanashi Prefecture will charge 8,000 yen for every five minutes a disaster-response helicopter is used to rescue climbers who ascend Mount Fuji outside the official July-to-early-September window without prior notification. The ordinance also requires climbers to submit a detailed climbing plan before passing the sixth station (?2,700 m).
During the 2024 summer season, Yamanashi introduced a toll on the Yoshida Trail—the busiest of the four routes. Effective July 1, the gate collected a 2,000-yen fee (with an optional 1,000-yen conservation donation) and imposed a hard cap of 4,000 climbers per day. The gate closes overnight between 3 p.m. and 4 a.m. to discourage “bullet climbing,” except for those with a reserved hut bed.
Background & Context
Mount Fuji’s official climbing season runs from July to early September, when most huts and toilet facilities are open. Off-season climbs have risen, prompting Yamanashi and neighboring Shizuoka prefectures to tighten controls. Between 2019 and the most recent year, Yamanashi recorded 21 accidents, resulting in four fatalities; local police tallied 18 accidents and eight helicopter deployments from 2020 onward. The rescue-fee model mirrors a 2018 policy in Saitama Prefecture, where charging for helicopter rescues coincided with a drop in accidents from 52 to 34 over seven years.
Data & Statistics
- 2023 total climbers: 221,322.
- 2024 final count (up to September 10): 204,316, a 7.7 % decline.
Trail-by-trail changes (Ministry of the Environment, Kanto Regional Office):
- Yoshida Trail: 114,857 climbers, down 16.3 %.
- Subashiri Trail: ? ? 20 %.
- Fujinomiya Trail: ? ? 7 %.
- Gotemba Trail: ? ? 13 %.
The three untolled Shizuoka routes carried about 5,400 more climbers in 2024 than in 2023, offsetting only a fraction of the Yoshida loss. The net reduction across all routes was 17,006 climbers.
Official Statements & Responses
“We ask the general public to refrain from climbing during the off-season. We hope that these measures will cause people to rethink what climbing Mount Fuji during the winter is like,” — Yamanashi Governor Kotaro Nagasaki.
The draft ordinance allows climbers who submit a notification form and carry appropriate safety equipment to receive a reduction in rescue costs. Shizuoka Prefecture announced a parallel plan to require notification forms and to introduce a demerit-point system for non-compliance, slated for implementation in September of the following year.
Conflicting Reports & Gaps
Early media coverage cited the 178,000 figure and suggested a roughly 14 % drop compared with “over 200,000” climbers in 2023. The final Ministry report shows the decline was 7.7 %, highlighting the limitation of mid-season snapshots for assessing policy impact. No data are yet available on how the upcoming rescue-fee will affect off-season climbing behavior.
What’s Next
- 2025 season: Yoshida Trail fee doubled to 4,000 yen; daily cap of 4,000 climbers remains.
- Shizuoka Prefecture will charge a uniform 4,000-yen fee on its three routes but will not adopt a daily cap.
- Both prefectures will restrict overnight entry on all four trails between 2 p.m. and 3 a.m.
These coordinated measures suggest that Yamanashi officials view the 2024 toll and cap as only a partial solution to crowd management and safety concerns.
Verbatim Quotes
- “We ask the general public to refrain from climbing during the off-season. We hope that these measures will cause people to rethink what climbing Mount Fuji during the winter is like,” — Yamanashi Governor Kotaro Nagasaki