Thread: Japan town begins blocking Mt Fuji view from ‘bad-mannered’ tourists

Fujikawaguchiko, Japan – Work has begun in a small Japanese town to erect a barrier blocking views of the country’s most famous sight, Mount Fuji, after locals complained of bad behaviour by photo-hungry tourists.


Fujikawaguchiko town began building panels of mesh netting at a spot where unending flows of mostly foreign tourists visit daily to take photos of the majestic mountain sitting behind a Lawson convenience store.


Photos taken from a narrow stretch of pavement across a busy road from the Lawson store — which are ubiquitous in Japan — are widely shared online.


Local officials and residents say while the town welcomes visitors, they need to stop tourists from continuously crossing the street, ignoring red lights, littering, trespassing, illegally parking and smoking outside of designated areas.


“It became not uncommon for people to yell at us when we asked them to move their cars, and for them to throw their lit cigarettes (on the ground),” a dentist’s office located across the street from the Lawson shop said in a statement.


By the middle of this month, the town plans to complete the barrier, which will stand 2.5 metres (8 feet) high and stretch more than 20 metres long to block the view of the mountain, with hopes that it will discourage tourists from loitering there.


The town’s move has prompted national and international headlines, as Japan experiences growing problems of overtourism, particularly at popular sites like the narrow private alleys of Kyoto, and even trails on Mount Fuji itself, where tourists love to photograph themselves and post on social media.


The Fujikawaguchiko town hall has been inundated with telephone calls from Japanese people, many of them non-local residents, who have criticised the move to block the view.


“It is not that we do not want people to see Mount Fuji. The issue is that there are so many people who are not able to observe basic rules,” a town official told AFP.


– ‘Basic manners’ –


Having the net barrier is unfortunate but perhaps necessary, area residents say.


“We welcome foreigners for the revitalisation of the community, but there are so many violations of basic manners, like crossing the road, dumping garbage and trespassing into people’s properties,” a 60-year-old resident told AFP.


“After all, they are here for Mount Fuji, so having that barrier is very unfortunate,” said the woman, who identified herself as Watanabe.


“There might have been other ways to deal with it, but for now I feel it cannot be helped,” she said.

Some tourists expressed understanding and voiced hopes that the town would create a designated photo spot.


But others speculated that the barrier may only make matters worse.


“Stop people? I don’t think so because when there is a will there is a way. People will just be on the left side of it or right side of it,” said 29-year-old Australian tourist Trinity Robinson.


“There definitely will be a way to still get the shot. It will just be more dangerous, really.”


As a possible solution, a 37-year-old local man, who gave his name as Ama, called on visitors to check out other scenic locations in the area.


“Mount Fuji from here (near the Lawson shop) is fantastic. But there are so many other places around here where you can visit and see beautiful views,” he said.

Japan town begins blocking Mt Fuji view from 'bad-mannered' tourists | Thai PBS World : The latest Thai news in English, News Headlines, World News and News Broadcasts in both Thai and English. We bring Thailand to the world

Sounds like they need to be more creative, build a decking, include rubbish bins and packing, charge appropriately.

Chinky riff raff, obviously.

Give it a fucking rest.

^^It's not just the Chinese. It's every wannabe influencer or just ordinary tourists who want to join the latest IG or Tiktok trend. There were white tourists too, as seen in the vid below.

Of course there were, but that doesn’t suit Harry’s biases

^though I'm not overly fond of the Chinese govt & their tourists, in this case it's not just the Chinese who are being pesky & ill-mannered tourists.

There's gotta be a more proactive way to solve the issue than just blocking it out of view.

Originally Posted by katie23

^^It's not just the Chinese.

But it's mostly them no doubt.

They're spreading like ants.

I'm just surprised they haven't claimed it's theirs.

^well yes, in the vid there's a large tour bus with Chinese characters. However, there were also other tourists (whites, other Asians etc) who were standing in the middle of the road to have their pics taken, causing traffic. The ppl in the thumbnail pic look like SE Asian tourists.

@edmond - accdg to the vid, there are other (official) viewpoints where ppl can have their pics taken. They're just farther away. The pesky tourists want *this* particular spot since it's famous in IG/Tiktok and apparently it's a juxtaposition of old & new Japan (old - the Mountain, new - the Lawson shop, a convenience store similar to 7/11). The locals are weary of the tourists causing traffic and the obstruction (a billboard?) will be finished & put up by this month.

Well this story has generated a load of free advertising for Lawson anyway.

Originally Posted by katie23

^^It's not just the Chinese. It's every wannabe influencer or just ordinary tourists who want to join the latest IG or Tiktok trend. There were white tourists too, as seen in the vid below.

I agree Katie, it has become so sad and desperate, IG is like a drug to them, the hit are the likes.

My daughter, having lived in Kyoto for the past 6 months, sees them all the time, they even piss her off and shes just a student.

Holes poked in Mount Fuji barrier, Japan town says

A Japanese town that mounted a huge barrier to deter unruly tourists from taking photos of Mount Fuji said Tuesday that around 10 small holes have already been poked in the mesh screen.


The barrier was put up a week ago in a popular photo spot in Fujikawaguchiko town, where residents had complained about streams of mostly foreign visitors littering, trespassing and breaking traffic rules.


A town official told AFP that the screen made of black netting had achieved its goal of dispersing crowds on a narrow pavement across the road from a convenience store.


Although a security guard is there between 10:00 am and 04:00 pm, the small holes appear to have been created in the morning or evening while no one was watching, he said.


“It’s about manners. It’s a shame,” he said of the holes, big enough to fit a finger through but perhaps too small to capture the Instagram-friendly juxtaposition of the snow-capped volcano emerging from behind the store.


“I tried to put a camera up to one of the holes. Did I take a good picture? In fact, I think the net came into the frame,” the official said.


Since the netting measuring 2.5 by 20 metres (eight by 65 feet) was installed on Tuesday, “there have been some people who came to see the screen itself,” he added.


“But we have achieved the purpose of discouraging people from staying there.”


The town, beside a scenic volcanic lake, now plans to place QR codes on the barrier to introduce the area’s other tourist attractions, including alternative places to take photos of Mount Fuji.


When the spot in front of the convenience store becomes less popular online then the town may take down the screen, the official said.


Record numbers of overseas tourists are coming to Japan, where monthly visitors exceeded three million for the first time in March and then again in April.


But as in other tourist hotspots, such as Venice which recently launched a trial of entry fees for day visitors, the influx has not been universally welcomed.


In Japan’s ancient capital of Kyoto, locals have complained of tourists harassing the city’s famed geisha.


And hikers using the most popular route to climb Mount Fuji this summer will be charged 2,000 yen ($13) each plus an optional 1,000 yen donation, with entries capped at 4,000 to ease congestion.

Holes poked in Mount Fuji barrier, Japan town says - Thai PBS World

It’s a fine line between reducing crowds and deterring all visitors…