Mount Fuji rescue fee proposal

Japan's Yamanashi prefecture, which governs the northern side of Mount Fuji, announced it will begin charging climbers a helicopter rescue fee starting next year if they attempt off-season ascents and require evacuation, part of a broader push to deter poorly prepared hikers. The fee will be modeled on a similar charge already in place in neighboring Saitama prefecture, which bills 8,000 yen (about $51) per five minutes of rescue helicopter use. Yamanashi will also require anyone planning an off-season climb -- defined as early September through the following July -- to submit detailed climbing plans in advance. 'We ask the general public to refrain from climbing during the off-season,' said Yamanashi Governor Kotaro Nagasaki, adding that officials hope the new measures prompt people to reconsider winter attempts on the mountain.

Neighboring Shizuoka prefecture, which oversees Fuji's southern side, said it would impose separate penalties on climbers who fail to register off-season attempts and would strengthen enforcement to keep hikers out of restricted areas, though it did not announce a rescue fee of its own. Both prefectures cited a rise in unplanned and off-season climbs, some of which have left climbers stranded, as the reason for the crackdown. Mount Fuji's official climbing season runs from early July to early September and draws about 200,000 hikers annually; climbing outside that window is strongly discouraged, though permitted up to the fifth of the mountain's ten stations, and most mountain huts and toilet facilities are closed off-season while weather and trail conditions become significantly more hazardous.