The 3,776-meter volcano, which straddles Yamanashi and Shizuoka prefectures, was added to UNESCO’s World Heritage List in 2013 as an “object of worship” and “wellspring of art.”Some 200,000 people climb Mt Fuji each year via the Yoshida Trail that leads to the summit of the tallest mountain in Japan from its north side in Yamanashi. Foreign visitors account for some 30% of those trekkers on weekdays and 20% on weekends, according to an Environment Ministry survey conducted in August last year.
Willer Travel Inc, an Osaka-based travel agency, recently arranged a group tour to Mt Fuji, consisting of 23 tourists from the United States and eight European, Asian and other countries.
Mike Powell, 31, who took part in the tour from the United States with his wife, said the couple wanted to climb the most famous mountain in Japan.
As suggested by Powell, tourists from abroad often visit Mt. Fuji as a sightseeing spot rather than a mountain to conquer.
In a bus on the way to the mountain, tour guide Eri Kodama, 23, told the participants to climb slowly, using illustrations, so as to avoid altitude sickness.
“It’s important to give instructions together with their reasons” to foreign visitors, Kodama said. “As many foreign tourists have no experience of mountain climbing, I take more care in guiding foreigners than Japanese.”
Foreign Embassies in Japan