Climbers on Mount Fuji’s popular trail drops by 30% following new rules

SHIZUOKA – The number of people climbing Japan’s Mount Fuji via the popular Gotemba trail, on the mountain’s Shizuoka prefecture side, fell more than 30 per cent year on year as at end-August, according to sources.

This change comes in the wake of new rules implemented in summer 2025.

From the 2025 summer season, climbers on both the Shizuoka and Yamanashi prefecture sides of Mount Fuji must pay entrance fees and

observe several restrictions

.

The numbers of climbers on three other routes – the Yoshida, Subashiri and Fujinomiya trails – remained almost unchanged, so the Shizuoka prefectural government assumes that the fall in visitors to the Gotemba trail is partly due to a decrease in the number of people coming to use it for trail running.

Runners have lamented the high entrance fee. One of them said: “¥4,000 (S$35) each time is a lot to pay.”

In 2025, Sept 10 was the last day Mount Fuji was open to climbers.

“Last year, I climbed more than 10 times, but this year I will only be able to climb three or four times,” a runner from Fujieda, Shizuoka prefecture, said as he entered the Gotemba trail to practice trail running in late August.

Of Mount Fuji’s four trails, the Gotemba trail is the one with the greatest difference in altitude from the foot to the summit, making it popular among trail runners, who typically run to the top of the mountain.

A part of the trail for descending the mountain, called Osunabashiri (Big sand run), is particularly favoured by runners because they can run straight down along the path, which starts from the seventh station and is thickly covered in volcanic ash.

Many runners participate every year in the Mount Fuji climbing Ekiden marathon relay race, in which runners make a round trip between the foot and summit of the mountain. The race is organised by the Gotemba city government.

The local public and private sectors have cooperated to attract visitors through measures such as setting up Mount Fuji trail station, a tourist information facility.

Previously, it was common for many to use the Gotemba trail several times a year to practice running.

But in the 2025 summer season, after the prefectural government introduced the entrance fee, many of these runners have cut back on the number of visits or stayed away from the mountain.

A female runner from Yokosuka, Kanagawa prefecture complained: “It’s hard for me to go to the summit when I think about how it will cost ¥4,000.”

She said there were many runners who practice at the foot of the mountain, where they do not need to pay the fee.

A 44-year-old man from Yokohama said: “I would appreciate it if there were seasonal passports.”

According to Environment Ministry statistics, the number of climbers on the Gotemba trail between July 10, the opening day, and Aug 31 was 7,510, about 36 per cent fewer than in the corresponding period in 2024.

Excluding the numbers in 2020 and 2021, when they were affected by the Covid-19 pandemic, the number for 2025 is the lowest in the past decade.

Visitor numbers on the other three trails were almost unchanged, and the practice of collecting entrance fees for mountains is more widespread overseas, so the effect of this new rule on numbers of inbound foreign tourists seems to have been limited.

Only the Gotemba trail saw a large drop in climbers.

An official of the Shizuoka prefectural government’s department relating to the Mount Fuji said: “We want to listen to local administration officials and climbers’ associations as we consider the best direction to take with regulations on climbing the mountain, including the entrance fee.”

Mr Masao Kishi, 56, head of the secretariat of the Japan Trail Running Association, said: “Mount Fuji is a symbol of Japan, and runners visit it from all over the nation. Shouldn’t we start thinking about how to balance preserving the natural environment with keeping it accessible to climbers?” THE JAPAN NEWS/ASIA NEWS NETWORK