Brian McDonald
The town of Fuji Kawaguchiko is known for its views of Mount Fuji – but if local authorities have their way, it will be no more. After many tourists flocked to the small town to get a view of the iconic mountain skyline, local authorities decided to put up a screen to block out the scene at a popular viewing spot.
Residents have complained about tourists making reckless crossings, littering and crowding the area around a convenience store known for its views of Mount Fuji, BBC News reports. Nicknamed “Mt. Fuji Lawson”, the store is your average Japanese franchise – but this one had tourists coming in droves to see the stunning view behind it.
Local authorities announced in April that they would block views of the mountain to curb pedestrian traffic, and this week they made good on that promise by putting up a screen.
Makoto Kimura/AP
Kazuhiko Iwama, 65, who has views of Mount Fuji from his home, told BBC News that tourists “cross the road and don’t seem to care about the cars, it’s dangerous. And they leave trash and cigarette butts lying around.” everywhere.”
“I feel sad for the tourists who come here to see the view and take photos, but the traffic here is quite heavy and we are all very worried about accidents,” said Kikue Katsumata, a 73-year-old resident.
The city has started seeing an influx of tourists as post-pandemic travel has increased and the Japanese yen has weakened, meaning people from other countries can get more for their money there.
Makoto Kimura/AP
Social media also played a role in the commercial’s popularity. “I think someone posted a cool photo of themselves in front of this Lawson and it went viral and everyone decided ‘I want to go there. I want that photo on my Instagram’,” Maddison Verb, an American tourist, told BBC News. .
German tourist Coralie Nieke said a crossing guard is now at the infamous spot, stopping people from crossing the street. “If I didn’t have social media, I wouldn’t have come here. I wouldn’t even know this place existed,” said Nieke.
In January, travel creator and photographer Luke Cameron posted a video on TikTok highlighting 10 of the best places in Japan to see Mt. Fuji and the Lawson store came second on the list.
TikTok is full of videos from travelers who took Cameron’s advice and visited the Lawson store. While some posts depict a picturesque location that serves as a photo opportunity of a convenience store juxtaposed with a natural wonder, others show a different side of the location.
TikToker @heaatherrrrrr shared a video of the crowd of people across the street from the store, saying their expectations were different from reality. “I had a feeling this would be the situation, but I didn’t expect lines on both sides of the street,” she wrote.
Many other content creators have shown the reality of Mt. Fuji Lawson, with a crowd of people across the street, raising their cameras to take a photo of the mountain in the background.
A content creator known as @spicybananas visited the site on May 12 and advised other travelers to get there soon before local authorities put up a sheet to block the view.
Fuji Kawaguchiko is about an hour’s drive north of Mt. Fuji, which is located in the Japanese prefecture of Shizuoka. While the distance gives tourists in the rural city a good view, the 12,388-foot mountain can also be seen from the surrounding lakes and Tokyo Tower in the country’s capital.
On Cameron’s list of places to see Mountain: Lake Yamanaka, Tenku-no Torii – a shrine built as a place to pray near the mountain – Lake Kawaguchigo, Honcho Street in Fujiyoshida, Chureito Pagoda, Hoto Fudo restaurant, trains and railway stations nearby Mount Fuji and Arakura Shrine pagoda.
Caitlin O’Kane
