Local reaction to Mount Fuji photo hunters causing major regrets

Be careful what you wish for, it might actually come true.

Each day at least a 1000 people get to take unique photos of Fuji. Amazing!

How Funny, that guy is enjoying Two Papa Fuji's.

What a bunch of plonkers, they are totally clueless

Maybe Japanese people in Shizuoka should write to their local LDP member for change lol?

“Build it and they will come.”

Perhaps will start charging those tourist when taking pictures there? Just like other localities?

with residents up in arms about disruptions

Wow

Japanese are very persnickety culture. I think everyone gets it now.

“It’s our dream that people from all around the world come enjoy our very famous this-or that!”

[people from all around the world come enjoy their very famous this-or that]

”Dangu-nabbitto!”

it has brought complaints from residents about illegal parking and excessive noise.

Who promote that place in the first place?

local government's decision to promote a bridge as the perfect spot for an Instagramable shot of Mount Fuji has backfired, with residents up in arms about disruptions caused by people looking to get the shot of a lifetime.

Either Fuji-shi government or Shizuoka-ken government, that initiatives.

Who decide to bring more tourist to Japan again?

Japanese people whining and complaining as usual.

No wonder tourists flock to the Lawson spot. The spot in the photo here is butt ugly.

Foreigners should have to check their phones at the airport upon arrival.

"I will do anything, and I mean anything, to take the exact same picture as everyone else!"

I don’t understand why they keep coming to admire and take photos of Mount Fuji. Don’t they have anything nice in their own countries?

People who live in tourist hotspots have been coping with it and profiting from it for hundreds of years, from pilgrimages and the grand tour, to package holidays and cruises. Other places get way more tourists and cope with it. Fuji used to get lots more people trying to climb it than it does now, despite it only now being a problem. The media are jumping on the 'overtourism' bandwagon and pandering to rising levels of xenophobia. Japan has had a steady rise in tourists for a couple of decades. That is enough time to sort out some marshalling and fix any capacity problems.

Mount Fuji just a volcano with glacier covered it's top, nothing special. Not worth for someone to risk his/her life for doing something stupid!

A local government's decision to promote a bridge as the perfect spot for an Instagramable shot of Mount Fuji has backfired, with residents up in arms about disruptions caused by people looking to get the shot of a lifetime.

 "Mt. Fuji dream bridge"

It is a truly stunning photo oopportunity.

Manage the parking challenges, pay and display is the obvious choice.

However monetize.park and ride bus them in

Leverage the tourism, their is allot of financial benefit for local hospitality too

I forgot the exact figure, but billions of smartphone photographs are taken every day. The significant majority end up staying on the phone, or are uploaded to a social media site, which will be viewed on a phone, then forgotten about unless they go viral for some reason (and that reason is almost never about how good a photo it is).

So people are willing to go to all this trouble for a quick dopamine hit, and (as others have pointed out) unless they can get a different angle or somehow make their photo stand out, it will look almost exactly the same as everyone else's.

The great landscape photographer Ansel Adams apparently once said that he would be satisfied with twelve good photos in a year. And his prints still hang on walls worldwide.

Locals whining about tourists enjoying walking around Japan and talking.

Mount Fuji just a volcano with glacier covered it's top, nothing special

That is not correct, tho.

Mt Fuji covered in snow is a beautiful scenery that has inspired billions across the centuries. Landscapes are the reason why people travel to places, hike mountains, get into photography, create paintings and drawings, sit down to contemplate the beauty of nature and relax, etc. That's universal.

Looking for the perfect spot to enjoy views of the Fuji generates tons money for establishments (hotels, restaurants, onsen, horses) and inspires people to travel to Japan and within. It really is something very special.

We share our photos with family and friends as they do with us. Fuji is a Japanese icon.

Had no idea this place existed! Gonna pack up my car with a bunch of friends and go!

Had no idea this place existed! Gonna pack up my car with a bunch of friends and go

Lol. Rent a bus/van and organize a Meetup group!!!!

Speed, I am going to visit with family, nephews and nieces, Shizuoka Prefecture may have other gems to visit.

I have Holiday saved from golden week.

Hotels will be prepped today.

Japan Today. Thank you for not blaming this on ‘foreign’ tourists like so much of the media here.

what happens when you want the tourist’s money but not the tourists.

I've seen overtourism stories about this site, about parking and people standing in the middle of the road and obstructing traffic on the bridge, three or four times on TV etc. However this is the first time the story has clearly mentioned that the local government actually promotes the bridge as a tourist destination. It even has its own website in several languages (!!)

https://yume-no-ohashi.com/

I guess I should have looked it up, but this place being actively promoted places the whole overtourism issue in a new light. This is not foreigners all amassing at a random site, like the train station by the sea in Hokkaido where a lady walked on the tracks and got hit by a train. It is them going to a place where the government tells them to go. If there is only a pokey little car park, that's the government's fault.

Just Googled it for more pictures and its actually pretty lousy as a photo op.

The stairs are ugly, the wall on the walkway at the top blocks out part of the view and prevents a person getting a good silhouette shot, and since the walkway extends diagonally from the staircase to hook up with the rest of the bridge it looks quite awkward.

Honestly they should just take some land in the middle of nowhere that has a view of Mt. Fuji and build a theme park with convenience stores and staircases in it for all the tourists to flock to, problem solved.

I've never understood why some tourists seek the exact same photos as seen posted by others online. Ditto with the Lawson in front of Fuji-san shots. Perhaps I'm missing something.

Make your own unique memories.

Aly RustomToday 08:04 am JST

"Japanese people whining and complaining as usual."

From one of the many gaijin on this site who does nothing but complain about Japan and Japanese day in and day out. That's just rich!

Government in Japan whether local or state seems utterly useless at actually doing something. Here is this amazing gift. Hordes of tourists flocking to Mt Fuji, eager to enjoy the spot, pay money, buy souvenirs and they can't get off their rear ends to capitalise on it!

They are utterly useless and they draw a high salary for doing virtually nothing.

Pathetic.

he hopes to capture some "beautiful and unique" photos

0/2 there then.

Wherever you have large groups of gaijin in Japan, you’re going to have a lot of noise and a lot of cultural disturbances. That’s why I choose to live in a part of Japan that is far far far away from any tourist attractions. Where I live is such a beautiful, quiet and peaceful part of Japan. Been in Japan 48 years, 33 of which I’ve spent right where I am. Love it here and will never leave. Unless it gets flooded with gaijin..

I chuckled with this picture.

Literally 100s of places to watch Mount Fuji the way you want, a 1000 combinations with whatever object you want.

Get a car and spend 2 days there instead of fighting and queuing to take a picture climbing random stairs.

I have a solution for the illegal parking, it will be a Win / Win:

Contract AS MANY Tow Truck Companies as they can to tow illegally parked cars.

BINGO ! Talk about a Cash Cow ! Everybody WINS.

If you illegally park in any major city (especially Tokyo) you’ve got about TEN MINUTES before they come back around the block from Chalking the ground next to your car and it’s GONE !

You regulars know how it works…tell me that’s a BAD Idea, go ahead.

If your rental gets TOWED, FLAG the Passport and deny Exit from Boarding / Exiting the country.

I should be on the Board of Tourism Council

Some Japanese really have a "don't bite the hands that feeds you" problem. I mean, like others have said, Japan has profited from tourism for decades. Don't like it? Move to an abandoned Akiya in the countryside like Akuma has. Don't forget also that the Japanese were busy travelling the world in the 80s taking photos of everything. You can't have it both ways.

Actually seems to be quite an orderly line in that photo.

Totally understand that the people who live around the bridge are unhappy with all the people around their homes all the time. Disruptions and tons of people around your home is not good. Your home is a suppose to be a place of peace. Perhaps the government should make a good photo place that is away from people's homes.

The shrinkage in the economy in Q1 makes tourism even more necessary

The world is not perfect. Nothing is perfect. Perhaps JP can send a note/massage out to the world? Just send the money you would have spent in JP to JP, you stay at home, perhaps just see/watch/do what you want to on the internet??

hopes to capture some "beautiful and unique" 

What is "unique" about a photo that is promoted and taken by thousands of others? Weird thinking.

> MeiyouwentiToday 08:35 am JST

I don’t understand why they keep coming to admire and take photos of Mount Fuji. Don’t they have anything nice in their own countries?

Why even leave your house, let alone visit another country, right?

The solution to illegal parking is to make some legal parking.

Statue of Liberty and Eiffel Tower - hold our beers.

Old people grumble alot and don't like or are scared of other people.

A younger generation would have jumped on this as an opportunity to make a living.

When you don't have any energy left, it's easier to complain.

Some Japanese really have a "don't bite the hands that feeds you" problem. I mean, like others have said, Japan has profited from tourism for decades. Don't like it? Move to an abandoned Akiya in the countryside like Akuma has. Don't forget also that the Japanese were busy travelling the world in the 80s taking photos of everything. You can't have it both ways.

THIS!!

Statue of Liberty and Eiffel Tower - hold our beers.

Old people grumble alot and don't like or are scared of other people.

A younger generation would have jumped on this as an opportunity to make a living.

When you don't have any energy left, it's easier to complain.

EXACTLY!

The world is not perfect. Nothing is perfect. Perhaps JP can send a note/massage out to the world? Just send the money you would have spent in JP to JP, you stay at home, perhaps just see/watch/do what you want to on the internet??

That's exactly what they seem to want

What I learned interacting with Japanese over the years, they know only one way of doing things which is instilled into them from childhood by family/school/media etc collectively. Any other way of doing things is wrong even when it is better. This largely applies to Japan born Japanese abroad too. Independent of what is happening with mt Fuji picture taking in this article, I think the best we could do is simply stop caring what Japanese think. It is simply not worthy your effort. Put your effort into another Society/Nation which would appreciate more.

"It is the role of a local government to prioritize the lives of residents and urge tourists to show restraint."

Japanese have no right to criticize people trying to get "the shot of a lifetime". I have seen Japanese sit by and take photos of HEINOUS things, even when photos were not allowed. Saw a Japanese tourist take a photo of Ho Chi Minh in the mausoleum in Hanoi and the guy got picked up, beaten up, and thrown out. How much do you want to bet ALL of the people criticising the photos being taken by others have at least dozens themselves?

The location known as "Mount Fuji dream bridge" in Fuji, Shizuoka Prefecture, was envisioned as a tourist draw that would be a boon to the area. Instead, it has brought complaints from residents about illegal parking and excessive noise.

But for an "Instagram-worthy" view of Mount Fuji (and there are many more picturesque locations for these), I can't imagine many visitors flocking to the industrial port area of Fuji City where the constant roar of trucks and other traffic are probably more distracting than some people chatting while waiting to take their shots. Well done on the promotion campaign, I guess.

There’s surely a business opportunity up there in Shizuoka for some enterprising individuals taking tours around Fuji for that ‘perfect shot’