500 yen to poop on Mt Fuji fee

[Taro Toporific]

[floatl][/floatl]Possible eruption ahead over proposed fee for climbing Mt. Fuji
KOFU, Japan, Nov. 4 KYODO
Municipal leaders are proposing imposing an ''entry fee'' on climbers of Mt. Fuji to assist in environmental conservation after a record 430,000 people scaled Japan's highest peak this past summer...
....A Yamanashi prefectural government official involved in trying to get UNESCO's approval for Fuji to be put on the World Heritage List said an entry fee is ''one way'' of dealing with the environment. Contributions ranging from 300 yen to 500 yen per person....

[Taro Toporific]

Soon to die link---full story.....

FEATURE: Possible eruption ahead over proposed fee for climbing Mt. Fuji
KOFU, Japan, Nov. 4 KYODO
Possible eruption ahead over proposed fee for climbing Mt. Fuji
Climbers set off to scale Mt. Fuji on July 19. (Photo courtesy of Yamanashi Prefecture) (K...
Municipal leaders are proposing imposing an ''entry fee'' on climbers of Mt. Fuji to assist in environmental conservation after a record 430,000 people scaled Japan's highest peak this past summer.
Led by Fujiyoshida Mayor Shigeru Horiuchi, the leaders and other local officials in Yamanashi Prefecture have voiced concerns about the destruction of the environment and an increase in the number of people injured while climbing the mountain.
Horiuchi touched off moves for such a fee when he told a news conference on Sept. 2, ''We should consider charging entry fees'' in the future.
The number of visitors to the city en route to the northern entrance to the 3,776-meter mountain this summer increased by more than 50,000 from last summer, resulting in a shortage of parking space and public lavatories. Both the number of people injured and the number of accidents also rose.
The mayor indicated a desire to use the proposed fee for the maintenance of facilities for the preservation of the environment.
At a news conference on Sept. 3, Yamanashi Gov. Shomei Yokouchi supported Horiuchi's idea, saying, ''It fully deserves consideration. I would like to have it studied by local municipalities.''
Yoshiyasu Watanabe, mayor of the town of Fujikawaguchiko, said he was in favor of Horiuchi's idea and added that such a fee would contribute to the improvement of the environment at a time when parties concerned are pushing for Mt. Fuji's listing on the UNESCO World Heritage List.
However, Yamanashi municipalities face the problem of clearing a hurdle with their peers in neighboring Shizuoka Prefecture since the long dormant mountain, which last erupted in 1707, towers over the two prefectures.
An official of the town office of Oyama in Shizuoka Prefecture said, ''We can't say anything because we haven't had any formal talks.'' The town in the northeastern part of the prefecture is noted for its climber-friendly ''Subashiri-guchi'' entry route to Fuji.
The upper portion of the mountain from the so-called ''eighth station'' onward is owned by the grand shrine of Fujisan Hongu Sengentaisha in Fujinomiya, Shizuoka Prefecture. The mountain's paths to the summit from Yamanashi and Shizuoka are owned by the two prefectures respectively.
Some people say the question of who has the right to collect such an entry fee may become a problem.
Kazuo Okuwaki, assistant chief of the Mt. Fuji section of the Fujiyoshida municipality, said, ''We'd like to study the feasibility of the introduction of an entry fee in cooperation with the prefectural government and neighboring city, town and village offices.''
A Yamanashi prefectural government official involved in trying to get UNESCO's approval for Fuji to be put on the Word Heritage List said an entry fee is ''one way'' of dealing with the environment.
Contributions ranging from 300 yen to 500 yen per person at parts of the Shirakami mountain range on the border of Aomori and Akita prefectures and Yaku Island in Kagoshima Prefecture are collected on a voluntary basis for the purpose of environmental conservation.
Both the Shirakami mountain range and Yaku Island, famous for its natural forest of Japanese ''yaku sugi'' cedars more than 1,000 years old, are on the World Heritage List.
The village offices of Okinawa's Izena and Iheya collect 100 yen per person in an ''environmental protection tax'' from Okinawan residents and others entering the isolated islands.
On the other hand, the Hatsukaichi city government in Hiroshima Prefecture has decided not to introduce a tax for entry to Miyajima, the site of Itsukushima Shrine on the World Heritage List, for fear it may lead to a decline in the number of tourists.
Travel agents handling trips to Mt. Fuji are also naturally worried about a potential drop in visitors.
==Kyodo

[Kagetsu]

I think it's a good idea... Entry fee over paying massive fee's for everything else all the way up... kind of pointless though if you still have to pay to use a loo.