To combat overtourism, a Japanese city installs a net hiding Mount Fuji

This decision was taken in the face of the influx of foreign visitors, whose bad manners overwhelmed residents and authorities.

A small Japanese town installed a high opaque net on Tuesday May 21 to hide a view of Mount Fuji popular with hordes of tourists. The town hall of Fujikawaguchiko, in central Japan, justified this decision by the incivility of many foreign tourists, throwing waste on the ground, smoking outside authorized areas, crossing the road at a red light or parking indiscriminately. Some even climbed onto the roof of a nearby dental clinic, completely illegally, so they could take better photos.

The photographs, taken from a narrow sidewalk along a busy road, had become extremely popular on social media like Instagram because they combined a view of the majestic volcano with a Lawson convenience store and parking lot in the foreground, a shape symbol of contemporary Japan.

Local authorities have warned that they intend to leave the barrier in place as long as necessary until the situation improves. Mount Fuji, Japan’s highest peak (3,776 m), can be photographed from many other locations, including Fujikawaguchiko. A tour operator offering trips around Mount Fuji from Tokyo said it is now taking tourists to another nearby Lawson store with a similar view of the volcano, but with fewer local residents nearby.

Elsewhere too, Japan is trying to combat the effects of overtourism. Access to a very popular hiking trail to climb Mount Fuji from July to September has been made payable (around 12 euros) and limited to 4,000 people per day, with an online reservation system.

In the former imperial capital Kyoto, some alleys in the geisha district have been closed to the public since last month. The local council of the Gion district deplored the fact that some tourists behaved like “paparazzi” by chasing geishas to take photos of them without their authorization, and believing themselves to be in a “amusement park”. More than three million visitors came to the Japanese archipelago in March, a monthly record for the country. This threshold was reached again in April.