Japan’s Mount Fuji to Hike Entry Fees

Those heading to Mount Fuji later this year to climb the iconic mountain will be shelling out a bit more money.

Japanese authorities announced last week that they’re introducing a roughly $27 (4,000 yen) entry fee for all four of Mount Fuji’s main trails — doubling the fee on one of those routes — for this year’s climbing season, which runs from early July to early September.

Officials in Yamanashi Prefecture started charging a mandatory fee of 2,000 yen last year to enter Mount Fuji on the Yoshida Trail, the mountain’s most popular route. Authorities also implemented a daily cap of 4,000 hikers on the Yoshida Trail.

Meanwhile, Shizuoka Prefecture will implement entry fees for Mount Fuji’s other three trails — Fujinomiya, Subashiri, and Gotemba — which had been previously free. Skift reported last November that the Shizuoka Prefectural Government was considering charging climbers 3,000 yen ($20) to 5,000 yen ($33) as part of its strategy to limit overcrowding and provide a safer environment for hikers.

Mount Fuji attracted 204,316 hikers in 2024, down from 221,322 the previous year, according to data from Japan’s Ministry of the Environment. However, the amount of traffic Mount Fuji saw last year is still concerning to Japanese authorities.

“There is no other mountain in Japan that attracts that many people in the span of just over two months. So some restrictions are necessary to ensure their safety,” said Natsuko Sodeyama, a Shizuoka prefecture official.

Japan’s recent moves to make climbing Mount Fuji more expensive are part of its efforts to better manage its tourism boom. A record 36.9 million travelers visited last year, a 15.6% increase from the previous record of 31.9 million in 2019.

Japanese officials approved accommodation taxes in nine cities and two prefectures last Friday that will go into effect this fall, revenue from which will be used to support the tourism industry and address overtourism. Kyoto’s municipal government announced earlier this year its proposal to raise hotel lodging taxes to as much as 10,000 yen ($66) next March.

And the national government is also debating whether to enact a fivefold increase on the tax it imposes on departing travelers — from 1,000 to 5,000 yen — to help fund initiatives to tackle overtourism.