EN
A policy of increasing fees and tightening climbing regulations has brought a breakthrough success for Japanese local authorities in the 2025 climbing season. Mount Fuji – Japan's 3,776-meter-high tourism and cultural icon – has recently faced overcrowding, reckless climbing and an increase in the number of entrapment cases, even deaths.
However, according to the latest statistics from local police, after applying strict measures, the number of people trapped on this mountain has decreased sharply by 44% compared to 2024, in particular, no deaths were reported during the official climbing season.
Thanks to tighter regulations on climbing times and increased entrance fees, the number of visitors having accidents while climbing Mount Fuji in the summer has dropped sharply, with no deaths recorded.
The Fuji climbing season typically runs from July to the end of September every year, attracting a large number of domestic and foreign tourists. In the 2025 climbing season, the total number of climbers using the trails from Shizuoka Prefecture remained high at around 84,000. However, only 36 people required rescue assistance, a significant decrease from the 64 people in the 2024 climbing season. Most notably, no deaths were recorded in 2025, while 6 deaths were recorded in 2024.
The main causes of previous incidents of entrapment and need for assistance have often been due to unsafe and unprepared climbers. “Bullet climbing” involves many tourists attempting to reach the 3,776m summit in one night without sleeping in roadside huts. This behavior leads to severe exhaustion and loss of strength.
The climbing season for Mount Fuji lasts from July to the end of September every year, attracting a large number of domestic and foreign tourists. This year, about 84,000 people climbed from the Shizuoka side.
Many climbers show recklessness by carrying too little equipment or dressing too casually, such as wearing only T-shirts, shorts and sandals, which are completely unsuitable for the harsh weather conditions on high mountains.
To address this situation, the Shizuoka prefectural government has implemented two main measures: increasing the entrance fee and strictly limiting the time. Specifically, the entrance fee has been doubled to 4,000 yen (about 660,000 VND). At the same time, people are prohibited from entering the trails from 2 p.m. the previous day to 3 a.m. the following day, unless they have made a reservation and have confirmation of staying at a mountain lodge.
Similar measures have been introduced in Yamanashi Prefecture, home to another popular trail up Mount Fuji, and the prefecture has also seen a significant drop in mountain rescues since the measures were introduced in 2024.
The Shizuoka prefectural government is now considering imposing additional fines and requiring reckless climbers to pay for the cost of dispatching rescue helicopters to increase deterrence.
While the efficiency of the official climbing season is impressive, safety challenges remain outside of it. Serious accidents have been reported while the mountain is closed, often involving visitors who were unaware of the rules or acted impulsively. In June 2024, three Japanese men aged between 30 and 50 were found dead near the crater.
In 2025, a US citizen in his 60s was rescued after suffering hypothermia after attempting to climb the mountain while it was closed. Another notable case occurred in April 2025, when a Chinese college student had to be rescued by helicopter. Four days later, on impulse, he was rescued a second time when he tried to return to the mountain to look for his forgotten phone.
These incidents highlight the need to raise awareness of the dangers of climbing during the closed season – especially for international tourists who are unfamiliar with the rules, as well as locals who climb spontaneously.
