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A tourist from Thailand poses on the Mount Fuji Dream Bridge in Fuji City, where authorities plan to erect a fence to stop visitors blocking the road to snap their dream photo. Photo: EPA-EFE

Mark Footer

Published: 7:45am, 13 Jun 2024Updated: 8:17am, 15 Jun 2024

Like a huge game of whack-a-mole, local authorities around Japan’s Mount Fuji are trying to keep overzealous tourists under control as the visitors all attempt to shoot the same pictures of Fuji-san for their social-media feeds.

Post-pandemic, tourists have rushed back to Japan – a beautiful country whose appeal is now turbocharged by a weak yen – and an overwhelming majority have converged on the usual hotspots, with smartphones raised.

After photos began appearing online of Mount Fuji seemingly perched atop a Lawson convenience store in Fujikawaguchiko, social-media-loving sheeple all suddenly “needed” to have that picture.

In April, complaints by Fujikawaguchiko residents reached a crescendo, leading to the erection of a view-blocking barrier. It took just days before the barrier was having holes poked in it by those who would not be denied.

Mt Fuji is seen through a hole poked in a black screen installed to stop tourists taking photos of the mountain with a convenience store in Fujikawaguchiko in the foreground. Photo: Kyodo News/AP

Then it was the turn of the residents of Fuji City, on the other side of the mountain, to complain – this time over the ruckus developing around a decade-old bridge.