KOFU, Japan - Mt. Fuji's climbing season commenced Wednesday as two of the four main hiking trails opened, with hikers making their way to the summit greeted by a clear sunrise breaking through clouds around 4:30 a.m. in fair weather.
Yamanashi Prefecture has set up two self-service payment kiosks for the 4,000 yen ($25) entrance fee at the 5th station on the most popular Yoshida Trail this year, to ease congestion for those who had not preregistered. The Subashiri Trail on the Shizuoka Prefecture side also opened on Wednesday, earlier than in past years.
Two other trails on the Shizuoka side of the 3,776-meter mountain will open on July 10 as usual.
Yamanashi Prefecture is urging climbers to preregister online and complete entrance fee payments in advance. Local authorities have also begun around-the-clock deployment of patrol and safety personnel at the summit area.
Jasper Overall, 26, an international student from Australia, said, "(I) wasn't sure the hike was even going to happen with that typhoon. We're really glad that we got to see the sunrise at the end."
A staff member of a mountain hut near the summit remarked that there were more climbers than he expected, despite a strong earthquake in the area and twin typhoons that passed close to Japan last week.
Both Yamanashi and Shizuoka prefectures have introduced a range of measures to regulate climber access amid a rise in foreign visitors and growing concerns about ill-prepared hikers in recent years.
During last year's season, the number of Mt. Fuji climbers using the three trails on the Shizuoka side fell by 6.1 percent to 84,032 from the previous year, while those using Yamanashi's Yoshida Trail increased by 5.4 percent to 121,068.
Last Friday, a magnitude of 5.6 earthquake jolted Yamanashi Prefecture and nearby areas, measuring lower 6 on the Japanese seismic intensity scale of 7 in Fujikawaguchiko, situated at the northern base of Mt. Fuji. The volcanic alert for the mountain remains at Level 1, the lowest of five levels and indicating potential for increased activity.
Mt. Fuji, designated a UNESCO World Cultural Heritage site in 2013, attracts hundreds of thousands of visitors each year during its official climbing season. All four trails are scheduled to remain open through Sept. 10.
