Abstract
It′s just a two-hour drive out of Tokyo to the 5th station and even a first-time climber can reach the summit of the highest mountain in Japan—I′m speaking of Mount Fuji. Each year, some 300000 people climb to its peak, approximately 3 million visit the 5th stations of 4 trails at the 5th Station, and 30 million visitors come to partake of sightseeing around the tourist spots at the foot of the mountain.
In the early 1990s, a nationwide campaign was waged to make Mount Fuji a World ‘Natural’ Heritage. This drew the eyes of the public toward Mount Fuji and directed their attention to the environmental issues facing the area, which were, ironically, illegal dumping of waste and human waste due to the new surge of visitors. The increasing waste being generated at the foot of Mount Fuji, both material and human, became a very serious problem from the 1990s. To address the rise of such problems, Fujisan Club was founded in 1998. Along with the improvement of mountain toilets in 2000-2002, the Club has conducted cleanup campaigns over the past 16 years.
Since being granted status as a World ‘Cultural’ Heritage Site in 2013, visitors to Mount Fuji from abroad have rapidly increased. The mountain is attracting more and more people, all who come from different cultures and who practice different customs. Addressing the problem of waste management in local communities that want to welcome domestic and foreign guests is now critical to the conservation effort on Mount Fuji.
