On Toilet … A tale for this year’s Mt. Fuji

One of my friends lives on the shore of Lake Yamanakako 山中湖. She wakes up every morning and admires THE elegant shape of entire Mt. Fuji, if the weather is fine. As Mt. Fuji is a kind of neighbor for her household, during July 1st to the September 30th every year she regularly visits several times the top of it, the highest place of Japanese archipelago at ASL 3776m. She has experience there, and so never does an unplanned day-hike. She prepares in advance always. Normally, the reservations for an alpine lodge for the year are completed before the end of April. She then takes time to enjoy alone her beloved sunrise from the mountain top, by a slow and paced climb, avoiding altitude sickness.

During the COVID years, the lodges were closed. This year their business was resumed, and she were delighted to return her purely personal pleasure. She said her 2023 first visit was in early July, almost immediately after the start of mount climbing season. On that day Japanese meteorological agency predicted a typhoon may have come near to Honshu Island. She drove her car up to the parking area of the 5th Station, and asked mountain rangers about the situation. Oh, by the way, normally the parking at the 5th Station is open for private cars only for the first two weeks of July. The control remains until the end of August, then during September weekends the regulation resumes. I guess next year this traffic control would be stricter … Anyway! The rangers on that day stared the radar simulation in their PC, and said “Well, at least, not many people with enough grown-up caution have not tried go further from here today. You look having enough preparation, but we recommend you going home.” She decided to try at least to the lodge she reserved in the 8th Station. As she proceeded, the weather became more and more fine and pleasant. The trekking road that was normally crowded was so calm. She could figure out her fellow mountaineers before and after her with 100m or so distance away. “Naomi, that was superb. I relaxed so much!” She had a nice supper in the lodge on that day, slept quietly and well, woke up around 2:00 next morning, climbed slowly, and had a golden shower of rising sun at 3776m. “It was like the entire top of Mt. Fuji was reserved only for me! I never forget my lucky morning of my life.”

About a month later, she returned the mountain road of Mt. Fuji. That time was different. There were TONS of people, like a downtown shopping area. Fearing falling rocks tumbling down from above because of apparently “untrained” steps of visitors, she reached the lodge she reserved in the 8th Station. As before, she had a nice supper in a congested dining room, retired to her room, woke up at 2:00, and prepared to go up to the summit. She went to a toilet that was outside the accommodation quarter. “In any case, the entrance of the lodge itself was very strange that morning. There were so many scantily clad foreigners sleeping on the floor without enough cover. It was like a refugee camp where the outside temperature was about 3°C. I went outside to the toilet compound where many another foreigners huddled around trying to have some rest. I reached one unit, and opened the door. Guess what? A foreigner slept on the toilet bowl! That person noticed me visiting the place for the thing the place was designed to do. The foreigner hurriedly went outside of the unit, murmuring something half asleep. I finished my thing to do there, went out, and that person had waited for my coming out. Yuuuuuck! The tourist said something in some language with awkward smile and went back inside the toilet! I felt so uneasy and decided not to visit the top on that day. I returned to my reserved bed, slept till 7:00 and went down to the 5th Station. It was a horrible experience!”

This summer, such things became a social issue for Mt. Fuji, a World Cultural Heritage Site registered by UNESCO in 2013. I guess some of casual overseas visitors to Japan who never intended to visit again may not have bothered much about the manners, or at least the common sense of locals. But with a little thought, it won’t be difficult to guess visiting ASL 3776m without shopping center is not the same as drinking cappuccino during summer holidays in an airport. Unless your body is well-accustomed to higher altitude, sleeping in a dead-cold toilet with damned tired body covered by T-shirt and short pants could be a cause of your demise. This year, rescue squads for Mt. Fuji were so busy, especially for the officers with foreign language skills. Currently, the national and local governments for Mt. Fuji are planning to charge high enough entrance fee for climbing Mt. Fuji during 2024 season. I hope it is not too late, before a disaster comes on our precious Mt. Fuji.

Please stair the horizon. Right from the middle ...

Oh, and I imagine you guys reading this blog know it well, but … just in case, I tell you this. Climbing Mt. Fuji is “allowed” only from July 1st to September 30th every year. Yeah, there’s no law to stop you trying it. But,

1. Mt. Fuji is an independent peak near ASL 4000m where during winter, I mean from October to June, cold winds from Siberia blows through without anything to obstruct.
2. Besides, it’s an active stratovolcano at 35° north latitude whose last eruption was in 1707, just yesterday for vegetation unable to cover the slope.
3. So, snow that starts to pile up on a smooth slope during late September to the 1st week of October quickly becomes Ice Bahn. Even for those regulars of Mt. Everest have a difficult time to maneuver their crampons, ice axe, etc. during the winter of Mt. Fuji.
4. Consequently, all the businesses, like mountain lodges, emergency clinics, Sengen-taisha Okumiya Shrine 浅間大社奥宮, and even the weather observation station of Japanese Meteorological Agency are closed for humans. (Now the weather measurement station at the peak of Mt. Fuji is operated only by robots during winter).
5. All of these means winter Mt. Fuji is covered entirely with extremely hard ice slope which is easy to slip down even for the top pros. Or, albeit you don’t fall down, but are exhausted in a frozen and steep mountain road, calling for a prompt rescue is uber-difficult. And for such a case, you’re asking incredibly dedicated mountain rescuers to risk their lives for a complete (and probably unwise) stranger.

At least we locals know such things. Those who die in Mt. Fuji during winter are real pros who gambled their life for their … dream, maybe. Casual visitors who came to the mountain in T-shirts and shot pants should not try such things. Safe walk in forest.

If you find environmental issues in Kanagawa Prefecture, please make a contact with Kanagawa Natural Environment Conservation Center 神奈川県自然環境保全センター

657 Nanasawa, Atsugi City, 243-0121
〒243－0121　厚木市七沢657
Phone: 046-248-0323

You can send an enquiry to them by clicking the bottom line of their homepage at http://www.pref.kanagawa.jp/div/1644/