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A picturesque Japanese town is erecting a giant chain-link barrier to block a popular selfie spot near Mount Fuji.
Fujikawaguchiko, located at the foot of the Yoshida Trail to Mount Fuji, is inundated with foreign tourists trying to get the perfect photo of Japan’s most famous mountain.
Specifically, they stand in front of Lawson’s, an outpost of the major Japanese supermarket chain, to get a sense of the contrast between the busy, neon-lit store and the peaceful mountain behind it.
And now the city has had enough and is putting up a chain-link barrier to block the view, a local official told CNN.
The official, who declined to give her name, said there were ongoing problems with tourists leaving trash and not following traffic rules. Despite signs and security personnel being put up to warn them, the situation continues.
“It is unfortunate that we had to take such measures,” the official said.
The net, which is 2.5 meters high and 20 meters wide, will be installed early next week.
The city of Fujikawaguchiko is located in Yamanashi Prefecture, north of Fuji and about 100 kilometers west of Tokyo.
The crowds plaguing the small town are part of a larger problem affecting Japan.
Japan has suffered from excessive tourism since reopening after the pandemic in late 2022. March 2024 was the biggest tourism month ever in the country, with more than three million foreign tourists.
Many of them head straight for Mount Fuji, an icon of Japan and a UNESCO World Heritage Site, leaving behind trash and erosion along the way.
“Overtourism – and all its consequences, such as garbage, rising carbon emissions and reckless hikers – is the biggest problem facing Mount Fuji,” Masatake Izumi, a Yamanashi Prefectural government official, told CNN Travel last year.
Some locals had even nicknamed the 3,776-meter-high mountain, called Fuji-san in Japanese, “Garbage Mountain.”
To curb overcrowding, the Yamanashi prefectural government announced several new guidelines for tourists, including a daily limit of 4,000 people for hikers and a mandatory fee of 2,000 yen (US$13) per person. Previously the fee was optional.
There’s also a precedent elsewhere in the world for erecting a barrier to block would-be photographers: the Austrian town of Halstatt, which is said to have inspired the look of the mega-hit Disney film Frozen.
Hallstatt – which has around 800 permanent residents and sees up to 10,000 tourists a day in high season – erected a wooden fence in May 2023 to deter selfie-takers.
CNN’s Emiko Jozuka and Junko Ogura contributed reporting.
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