At least one person has died while climbing Mount Fuji and three bodies have been found on the mountain, just days before the climbing season officially opens, police and local media said.
Among them was professional rock climber Keita Kurakami, who served as an ambassador for Patagonia, according to the company. Local police said Kurakami lost consciousness while climbing Japan's tallest mountain on Wednesday and was confirmed dead at a hospital, according to NHK.
Local police said Wednesday that the three bodies were found about three-quarters of the way up the 12,400-foot mountain, near the crater but in different locations, NHK reported. It was unclear when the bodies were discovered. The three are believed to be climbers who had summited separately, the station said.
Seven deaths were reported on Mount Fuji last year.
Police in Shizuoka prefecture, where the trail to Mount Fuji's summit begins, launched a search after a Tokyo-based woman reported Sunday that she had lost contact with her 53-year-old husband, who had gone to climb Mount Fuji, police said. The husband left on Friday evening and sent photos he had taken near the peak to his family on Saturday, but was later unable to be contacted, NHK reported. Shizuoka police spokeswoman Eriko Takahashi said in an interview Thursday that the man had been identified as one of the dead.
Police are still identifying the other two bodies but believe they may be those of a man in his 30s who went missing in December and a man in his 50s who went missing in January, Takahashi said.
As Mount Fuji's popularity has soared in recent years, authorities have become increasingly concerned about overcrowding and dangerous climbing practices.
There are four trails leading to the summit. The one in Yamanashi prefecture will open on July 1, while three in neighbouring Shizuoka prefecture will open on July 10, according to the mountain's official climbing website.
Outside of the summer climbing season, Mount Fuji is subject to strong gusts of wind and snowstorms that can cause climbers to fall or slip on ice, according to the official Mount Fuji climbing website. Toilets and mountain huts where climbers can rest are closed during the off-season, according to the Yamanashi Prefectural Police website.
Officials have long been concerned about climbers trying to reach the summit without stopping overnight at mountain huts dotted along the trail, warning that climbing overnight without resting can lead to altitude sickness and hypothermia.
Kurakami, a professional climber, reached the summit from the Yamashi route, NHK reported. Patagonia said in a social media post that Kurakami had suffered a heart attack in 2021 and continued climbing after receiving treatment.
According to Yamanashi prefecture data, the number of people climbing Mount Fuji has remained stable at around 200,000 to 300,000 people per year over the past decade, but the number of people who visit the trailhead and make it partway up the mountain has increased from around 3 million in 2014 to 5 million in 2019.
For the first time this season, Yamanashi prefecture will cap the number of climbers per day, charge climbers an entrance fee equivalent to about $12.50 and install gates at trailheads that will be closed from 4 p.m. to 3 a.m.