A central Japan town plans to put up new fences along a road in front of a Lawson convenience store offering scenic views of Mount Fuji, local authorities said Friday, aiming to prevent people from stepping into traffic at the spot popular among foreign tourists.
The site in Fujikawaguchiko, Yamanashi Prefecture, has been inundated with visitors looking to photograph the famous mountain as if perched above the store. The development has prompted the town's government to take preventative measures.
The new fences, scheduled to be installed in December, will be the first on the convenience store side of the road. Their introduction is due to a significant increase in jaywalking, the town said.
Each measuring around 3 meters long and 80 centimeters high, the two fences are intended to encourage pedestrians to cross the road via a designated crosswalk. The town office is considering painting the crosswalk green and white to make it more noticeable.
A similar barrier to prevent entries into the road was expanded to span 25 meters of roadside opposite the convenience store in October.
In May, amid concerns of misbehavior and loitering at the site, local authorities temporarily installed a black screen on the opposite side of the road to block the view. It was removed in August as a safety precaution ahead of an approaching typhoon.
Mayor Hideyuki Watanabe said Friday there are currently no plans to reinstall the black screen.
© KYODO
11 Comments
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Asiaman7
Hint: One of the best views of Fuji in that town is from the Kawaguchiko Music Forest museum.
sakurasuki
First curtain and then fence, what next?
リッチ
Frankly, speaking whoever’s running the city planning in this town is an idiot. A simple crosswalk solves the problem. Why did Japanese always have to make things so complicated?
Asiaman7
There’s already a crosswalk at the stoplight about 5 meters before the Lawson (very close!), and no room on those thin sidewalks for an overhead pedestrian crossing. It’s also a very thin road; one lane in each direction.
Dave Fair
maybe they ought to make it a pedestrian toll road, say a 200m stretch with gates on either end and charge like 2,000yen! Residents are free. Then the town makes money off of it.
rainyday
This is the perfect example of the condescending foreigner whose complaints about how “idiotic” the Japanese are, in contrast to his own wisdom, only serves to prove the opposite. This is by far my favorite foreign stereotype.
From the article:
Zaphod
They should just put up a tall screen behind the combini so this social media inspired madness stops.
People who want a "Fuji on 7-11" photo can just copy it from the internet. There are millions of them.
kohakuebisu
The more I hear about this, the more I feel sorry for the locals and their efforts to find the least worst solution.
Nicolò
Some people wonder why they don't see this as a business opportunity and make money. The reason is simple: the locals don't want it. Not everyone is willing to give up their peaceful lives for money.
Nicolò
I believe this is a passing fad. I wonder when people will come to their senses and realize that the convini actually doesn't match Mt Fuji at all.
Hawk
It sounds a bit like the Streisand Effect. The more they try to do to solve the problem, the more attention it brings to it and the site, and the problem gets worse.
Just leave it. And if a few morons get knocked over by cars, then, you know. Darwinism.