Another Japanese town is taking action to prevent tourists from causing problems while trying to photograph views of nearby Mount Fuji.
Last month, Fujikawaguchiko, in the Five Lakes region of Yamanashi, erected a vast black mesh barrier to block a view of Mount Fuji rising majestically behind an iconic Lawson convenience store after masses of tourists stopping to take pics created traffic and litter issues.
The Fuji Dream Bridge
Now Fuji City is following that lead. The town of around a quarter of a million inhabitants lies in the east of Shizuoka Prefecture and boasts the “Fuji Dream Bridge” or Fujisan Yumeno Ohashi, a pedestrian and motor vehicle bridge designed to complement the iconic silhouette of the beloved volcano.
Unfortunately the symmetry of the design has worked rather too well, creating views of the bridge’s steps appearing to lead to Mount Fuji’s summit that have proved irresistible to instagrammers and caused a massive influx of tourists. Visitors tend to disobey warning signs telling them not step into the road to take the perfect shot.
Jaywalking, littering, and worse
While Fuji City is “happy that people want to visit” according to Miyu Toyama, a spokesperson for the city authority’s Exchange Tourism division who spoke to the South China Morning Post, the difficulties “began in December last year when a foreign influencer put images on Instagram. The image soon spread and now, almost all the people who visit the bridge are foreigners, not Japanese.”
It’s “becoming a problem”, she added, particularly “when it is raining or if Mount Fuji is covered in clouds, which causes problems because they stay longer, hoping that it will clear and that means lots of people can be there at the same time”. In addition to walking all over jaywalking rules and causing traffic hazards, damage and congestion, the visitors are accused of illegal parking, littering, noise pollution and using the street as their toilet.
Signage in multiple different languages and even the deployment of a security guard have been largely ignored, so, for now, the city has installed a 400-metre temporary fence along the road, in anticipation of a more permanent barrier to be erected in July.
Nearly two metres tall, the eventual fence will block foot access to the road bridge – and therefore the view from it. Whether the safety barrier will have a perverse effect and become an attraction and Instagram star in its own right, as Fujikawaguchiko’s mesh has, remains to be seen.
