Japan Today Get your ticket to GaijinPot Expo 2024
national

Holes poked in mesh screen barrier at popular Mount Fuji viewing spot

60 Comments

The requested article has expired, and is no longer available. Any related articles, and user comments are shown below.

© 2024 AFP

©2024 GPlusMedia Inc.

60 Comments
Login to comment

Whether we have been in Japan for 40 years or 4 days, we are all tourists now.

-13 ( +18 / -31 )

Holes poked in mesh screen barrier

Oooh, glory holes! Fun!

-11 ( +24 / -35 )

As the old saying goes, life will find a way, the same goes for these tourists, they will find a way to view Mt Fuji no matter what, and they will not be deterred unless you put cops there 24/7 watching that place the same way they watch the embassies.

6 ( +15 / -9 )

Where are the photos with the holes?

18 ( +20 / -2 )

"It's about manners. It's a shame,"

Exactly right!!

Visitors ANYWHERE, regardless of nationality, should behave as guests and be respectful. Frankly, Japanese historically have expected other Japanese to behave this way.

12 ( +22 / -10 )

Easy said than done but opportunity knocks…

Significantly more costly than black screen workaround, but if done properly the local council could make a designated area with a more permanent structure, full time staff and charge a reasonable fee for visitors for taking photos. This could cover the investment cost and even make money for the local government.

7 ( +13 / -6 )

They really messed up on this one. Spend money to prevent tourism instead of capitalizing on the tourism.

Terrible decision.

5 ( +26 / -21 )

Maybe the ubiquitous blue vinyl would have been a better choice.

2 ( +9 / -7 )

Lolz galore.

I do love this new episode to the black screen story.

Glorious.

-8 ( +12 / -20 )

Most countries would see this as a money making opportunity and there would be more parking areas, viewing spots, stores and people selling you stuff. Not in Japan, at least not in this area. If the older generation had their way entirely, there wouldn't be any tourists allowed in Japan.

-4 ( +16 / -20 )

I have no interest in going there. Problem will be solved once yen goes back to 120.

4 ( +10 / -6 )

Seeing the problem was tourist crossing the road and not actually being there, why not put gaps in to take a photo. Makes sense to me.

9 ( +11 / -2 )

Why are you blaming humans for the holes? It could be birds or bats flying into a big black net at night perhaps? Might even be cats climbing it?

5 ( +12 / -7 )

And no one of the people who decided on this tarp saw this coming. No one.

Such a joke (⁠≧⁠▽⁠≦⁠)

-7 ( +15 / -22 )

Doesn't compare with,

4,000 hole in Blackburn, Lancashire.

2 ( +4 / -2 )

Saw it on TV today. They're not really "holes" as the tarp is a rough weave material. They are places where the strands have been pulled apart and they aren't very big. Much ado about very little, it would seem.

10 ( +12 / -2 )

garymalmgren,

You saw the news today then did you?

-2 ( +3 / -5 )

Just look at the surveillance, if there's any, but it probably won't matter. The implication is already there.

3 ( +4 / -1 )

This whole story is SO EMBARRESING I hope that the rest of the world don't know about it.

From the start the idea of putting up a barrier was dumb and continues to be till this day.

This town better think again about this disaster.

-6 ( +10 / -16 )

It's a shade cloth.

What do they expect putting up a ridiculous flimsy cover

-7 ( +4 / -11 )

When the next Typhoon comes this barrier will make all the way to the Mayors office door steps, LOL.

-7 ( +8 / -15 )

Japan really needs tourism to help the backwards moving economy.

Foreigners are not brainwashed with the hive mind blame and shame inferiority xenophobia complex so just allow them to take their photos and encouraging Japan tourism.

-12 ( +2 / -14 )

Looks like this town has nothing to do but to chase tourists crossing the street to take a photo of Fuji San!! Kibishiiiiiii, Call in the National Guard.

-13 ( +4 / -17 )

The audacity of comparing the issues of Venice, a city that sees almost 7 times more tourists every year than the entire Japan, with the problems of a glorified parking lot in front of a Lawson in Fujikawaguchiko.

-3 ( +5 / -8 )

Hilarious fail on the part of the local government there. Very cringeworthy honestly.

It definitely feels like Japan has recently been taking lots of Ls and coping over the fact that they are declining economically. Fell behind Germany in GDP and about to fall behind India, GDP per capita is REALLY low given non-per capita, printed/wasted a lot of money during Covid, the joke I see going around is a picture of the Zimbabwe currency with the caption "The yen in 2024", getting bullied by China on trade but also having to do these summits with them in order to try and woo them for economic purposes, ect.

If they stopped focusing so much on "unruly foreigners" and instead harnessed that energy to vote for change in the upcoming elections, Japan could actually bounce back and rebrand into something of a leader. But sadly that probably won't happen.

-13 ( +2 / -15 )

Hands up everyone who predicted this

-1 ( +7 / -8 )

Benches with backrest, large size garbage cans, restrooms, vendors, shady trees, …beautiful rest area.

0 ( +4 / -4 )

Since the netting measuring 2.5 by 20 meters was installed on Tuesday, "there have been some people who came to see the screen itself,"

(Places fingers on forehead in exasperation. Sighs. Stares blankly out the window at the falling rain).

6 ( +6 / -0 )

3 down votes Bertie.

Oh boy.

-2 ( +2 / -4 )

How far out of their way were these Instagram opportunists going to take these photos? Is there anything else notable in or around this little town that your average Tokyo-to-Kyoto-bound tourist would make their way all the way around to the other side of the mountain for?

2 ( +3 / -1 )

Watch sales of DJI Osmo mobile, Zhiyun, Insta360, Hohem and all these other “extendable gimbals” increase. Either way, people from all over the world want to see this legend and they will just wait. The publicity surrounding this will only make people more willing to take risks and go. Can’t stop curiosity of man, right or wrong.

-3 ( +2 / -5 )

residents had complained about streams of mostly foreign visitors littering, trespassing and breaking traffic rules.

And spending money.

2 ( +5 / -3 )

If there is a will, then there is a way! I guess the public has to now laugh at the "poked holes" and all the attention the protective barrier was perhaps trying to prevent. I guess it is a "poking holes" laughing matter now.

-3 ( +1 / -4 )

The solution is simple. Relocate the convenience store and allow everyone to enjoy the beauty and majesty of Fuji san. These killjoy imbeciles building walls and making arbitrary rules are total losers

-1 ( +4 / -5 )

Every news report I see from this location shows lots of cars driving down that road. So if folks are walking back and forth across the road, dragging suitcases etc, I can see it being very tiresome for locals.

1 ( +4 / -3 )

Wonder if the oncoming Typhoon will leave it in shreds / tatters.

I drove past it a few hours ago in the typhoon-like weather. Seemed to be holding up, although the supporting poles at the ends were bending quite a bit.

I noticed one hole in the mesh at head height. I'm 6ft tall and can just about stretch enough to take a pic over the mesh.

Hands up everyone who predicted this

Hindsight warrior.

The solution is simple. Relocate the convenience store

Brilliant. Good luck with that. Maybe they can move the volcano too.

What do they expect putting up a ridiculous flimsy cover

They probably believed you when you claimed the tourists weren't there to take pictures of Lawson.

3 ( +5 / -2 )

Tourists will smarten up and spend their money where they are welcome, however I do applaud Japan for good intentions to ensure safety of pedestrians.

-1 ( +1 / -2 )

lets guess, which country tourist will do such shameful act in Japan tourist spot? the answer always point to Japan nearest neighbour, for their notorious reputation around the world

-2 ( +2 / -4 )

Mark, great minds think alike.

Their 5000 year old culture still remains uncultured.

-1 ( +2 / -3 )

quote: some people who came to see the screen itself.

They are going to have to put up a screen to block the famous screen.

5 ( +6 / -1 )

Mark

lets guess, which country tourist will do such shameful act in Japan tourist spot? the answer always point to Japan nearest neighbour, for their notorious reputation around the world

They are not the only ones, plenty of obnoxious characters from other countries, including the land of the free. Johnny Somali, anyone?

5 ( +6 / -1 )

How about renovating the place as a nice sightseeing spot supported by the local government rather than restricting?

-1 ( +2 / -3 )

Who could ever have seen this coming???

-2 ( +2 / -4 )

It just seems like such a hostile, badly-thought out, knee-jerk reaction to what could have been an opportunity for this town to have made some money and created good feelings.

-4 ( +2 / -6 )

Were the people taking the photos really a big problem, or just a big problem to the gaggle of 15 busybody old ladies who complained to city hall?

Were there really that many of these people taking photos everyday?

0 ( +3 / -3 )

I have no interest in going there. Problem will be solved once yen goes back to 120.

We won't see it going back to 120 In our lifetime. It would be closer to 200 next year if not over.

-3 ( +2 / -5 )

Why not capitalize on the opportunity to make income out of it. Charge a 1,000 yen at the Dental clinic for parking and 500 yen to take pictures from their building. The dentist could retire.

2 ( +3 / -1 )

The overplayed ‘bad news’ from a small convenience store car park in the middle of nowhere makes news across the world?

It’s a joke!

There are plenty of businesses in Japan making money from tourists in Japan.

From sold out whisky to cosmetics to food;businesses are booming!

I don’t hear any complaints at all.

The boom is so extreme that KIX has had a makeover and forces travelers to walk a convoluted path through a revamped duty free area which is full of ‘tourists’ filling up with as much as they can carry.

Even customs officers greet travelers in Chinese now.

And as for Kyoto?

That city bankrupt and mismanaged is the real scandal…

-5 ( +1 / -6 )

No tourists = Come back, we ant your money.

Too many tourists = NHK making out that it’s only foreigners responsible for this kind of thing.

-2 ( +3 / -5 )

Glory holes ?

-2 ( +1 / -3 )

Where are the photos with the holes?

https://www.sankei.com/article/20240528-D5NOBKT6UBP3PDF6I7UEOPI3XA/

1 ( +1 / -0 )

Yep was inevitable. Those crows are out of control. What were the authorities thinking?

0 ( +0 / -0 )

Whether we have been in Japan for 40 years or 4 days, we are all tourists now.

But there is a kind of freedom to that. Now I can speak loudly anywhere I like and everyone thinks I am an American tourist. Unless I wear my Australia singlet.

-2 ( +1 / -3 )

Tourists caught vandalising should be allowed to experience a part of Japan that most tourists will never get a chance to see: prison!

-4 ( +0 / -4 )

looking at the height of that thing it seems like anyone over 180cm will have no problem getting a photo.

Also they really don't understand the lengths people will go to get their likes on Insta, if they spend the time to go to a rural konbini just to get a photo they will make sure they get the photo. I'm guessing instead of standing on the sidewalk they now cross the road and stand in front of the screen to take pictures, making it even more dangerous and intrusive to traffic.

1 ( +2 / -1 )

Japan needs to learn to adapt and take its theme park role on the chin…

-1 ( +2 / -3 )

 if they spend the time to go to a rural konbini just to get a photo they will make sure they get the photo

Here's the problem, this conbini is located right next to the main Kawaguchi-ko Station so anyone coming to the area by train will feel the urge to take a picture of the damned combini because [reason not found, get a life]

-2 ( +1 / -3 )

My nomination for the story of 2024.

-2 ( +0 / -2 )

I honestly don't know what city officials were expecting with the way they set up the screen. Tourists were already failing to abide laws when they blocked traffic, parked illegally, and climbed the nearby roof of a clinic...

What they should have done (and what I was expecting to happen) was to set up the barrier on the roof of the Lawson. Putting up a barrier that these inconsiderate and childish tourists have physical access to is like putting a box of tissues in front of a baby and saying "don't touch it!" - the moment you turn away, those tissues will be everywhere. Which is exactly what's starting to happen with this "barrier". A few months from now there will be massive holes, not just small ones.

0 ( +0 / -0 )

Login to leave a comment

Facebook users

Use your Facebook account to login or register with JapanToday. By doing so, you will also receive an email inviting you to receive our news alerts.

Facebook Connect

Login with your JapanToday account

User registration

Articles, Offers & Useful Resources

A mix of what's trending on our other sites