Entrances to Mt. Fuji, beautiful lakes, wonderful cherry blossom trees, and proximity to Tokyo. It’s no wonder that Yamanashi Prefecture is a premium destination for tourists traveling to Japan, especially during sakura season.
Typically, news stations would be flocking to the city of Fujiyoshida, and particularly its famous pagoda, to capture footage of tourists gawking at its iconic cherry blossom/pagoda/Fuji combo. However, thanks to overtourism, Fujiyoshida pleaded with news media this year to stay the hell out.
Too much win for a small town
Fujiyoshida is holding this year’s cherry blossom festival from April 1st to 18th. Tourists from both across Japan and worldwide flock to Arakurayama Sengen Park to snap their own version of the photo showing the Chureito pagoda with Mt. Fuji in the background – an image that’s now indelibly associated with the country. According to NTV, it’s ranked as the number one spring spot among foreign tourists.
That’s proving problematic for the small city of roughly 44,000 people. On the one hand, the city appreciates the tourist attention it’s received. Tourists to Honcho-dori, the city’s Showa era-style shopping district, have helped revive what was once a dying street.
However, the attention has also led to massive crowds around Arakurayama Sengen Park, where visitors make the short climb to the pagoda’s observation deck. The festival has been a hallmark of the city since 2016.
Back then, Fujiyoshida saw some 60,000 visitors attend. Last year, it welcomed 270,000 people – an over fourfold increase. It has to hire 50 people specifically to help direct traffic and maintain order. This all sucks for the people who live around the park, who say it can take up to 30 minutes to leave their driveways.
To alleviate overtourism, the city this year posted a notice on its tourist website asking journalists to stay away and not air any coverage of the event. It says it’ll make the same request this fall, another high-demand time for the area.
A plea for normal behavior
During the event, patrols enforce parking restrictions to alleviate congestion in the area. That’ll end after the 18th, which is leading the city to ask visitors to be respectful and follow the rules even when there’s no one around to enforce them.
Sadly, locals say, congestion, accidents, and littering are routine even outside event days. To help alleviate the stress, Fujiyoshida has imposed parking fees for several lots in the area. It’s also considering assessing parking fees for the observation deck lot as well. However, it’s not clear whether these fees are effective at reducing congestion.
City tourism director Katsumata Mika says, “There’s only so much the city can do by itself.” She’s calling on both Japan and Yamanashi Prefecture to do more to educate visitors on the effects of overtourism when they enter the country, as well as include more English on road signs, bringing them up to international standards.
Other areas around Mt. Fuji have also had to wrestle with the effects of overtourism. The town of Fujikawaguchiko, for instance, draped off a Lawson convenience store that was a popular picture spot. Yamanashi Prefecture also started charging fees to Mt. Fuji climbers to fund overtourism efforts.
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Sources
なぜ？春の絶景日本一も「取材NG」人気の富士山スポットで“観光公害”が顕在化 山梨. NTV News
富士山＆五重塔と桜の競演、訪日観光客押し寄せ「もう限界」…混乱避けようと異例の「取材ＮＧ」に. Yomiuri Shimbun
