Mount Fuji cherry blossom festival cancelled over fears of visitors behaving badly

https://uk.news.yahoo.com/mount-fuji-cherry-blossom-festival-054937112.html

16 Comments

  1. [The Independent reports](https://uk.news.yahoo.com/mount-fuji-cherry-blossom-festival-054937112.html): The city government in Yamanashi prefecture said that it would not stage the annual Arakurayama Sengen Park Cherry Blossom Festival this year. The festival, which has been organised for about a decade, typically draws around 200,000 visitors who come to photograph Mount Fuji framed by blooming cherry blossoms and a five-storey pagoda.

    Authorities said the number of tourists had surged in recent years, fuelled by a weaker yen and the viral popularity of scenic locations on social media. Now, nearly 10,000 people pass through the area every day during peak blossom season – a volume that the small community says it can no longer comfortably manage.

  2. Few_Confusion_9477 on

    yeah tourism on this scale isn’t ecologically or socially sustainable. fair play, even though i don’t agree with the framing.

  3. Tourists are ruining lots of places in Japan. Carving their names into tori gates and bamboo forests among a mountain of other things… id be expecting a lot more bans from them soon.

  4. americanfalcon00 on

    i’m sure tourists ruin things as usual, but i have been to quite a few hanami festivals in rural japan and believe me, it’s not the gaijin who are forming drunken roaming hordes of generally well meaning but ultimately destructive revelers. it’s the locals.

    i always loved hanami season. it’s a chance to experience the japanese people when they, in an approved and culturally sanctioned way, can let loose and express emotions and moods which they normally keep in check. many fond memories of warm evenings under beautiful blossoms in the shadow of a thousand year old castle, drinking with strangers with that feeling of perfect safety that one only ever really has in a place like rural japan.

  5. TheGhostOfFalunGong on

    The problem with Japan compared to most headliner tourist cities like London, New York, Paris, Hong Kong, Singapore or even Dubai is that Japan’s top attractions are poorly planned for tourist surge. Shibuya Crossing in Tokyo, Gion in Kyoto and the mentioned scenic spot on top of Mt. Fuji are incredibly narrow and poorly designed for crowds that they look painfully overtouristed.

  6. Not about flowers.
    About volume without respect.

    When tourism outpaces behavior, access gets pulled.

  7. throwaway_beefpho on

    Fine $1,000 USD and ban people who are behaving badling from entereing into the country in the future. I think that’s the simplest and most effective solution.

  8. We have a street here in Bonn, Germany.

    Same trees, same problems. It’s mostly fat “influencer” girls that use some moronic friend to violently shake the trees while they do their whale dance under the falling leaves to show the world what a great connection to nature they have. It’s a real “Fuck you I got mine” move.

    Since other whales were mad that there were no leaves left, the trend started earlier and earlier.

    One thing they all have in common: they would fell the tree if it would only provoke ten likes.

  9. sakuretsujinzo on

    心配は観光客だけじゃない移民にもということだ 馬鹿外人ですね日本頑張れ

  10. China has this problem also, too many tourists in certain attractions, so you have to book using an app. Like if you want to go to Tianamen or the Palace Museum. Even a Children’s playground (it’s like amazeballs 4 story climbing objects, massive slides etc hugely popular.)

    This limits visitors and keeps everything nice and safe. Maybe it’s time Japan upgraded their tourist game.

  11. I’ve been a couple times, and didn’t really see anything super outrageous. The few bad actors were a mix of tourists and locals anyway, mostly local.