In the Foothills of Mt. Fuji, the Fight Is On Against Unruly Tourists

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japan dispatch

In the Foothills of Mt. Fuji, the Fight Is On Against Unruly Tourists

Huge crowds of visitors during cherry blossom season have put a picturesque Japanese town on edge. Some residents are trying to take charge.

Tourists in April in Fujiyoshida, Japan.

japan dispatch

In the Foothills of Mt. Fuji, the Fight Is On Against Unruly Tourists

Huge crowds of visitors during cherry blossom season have put a picturesque Japanese town on edge. Some residents are trying to take charge.

Tourists in April in Fujiyoshida, Japan.

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By

Javier C. Hernández

and

Kiuko Notoya

Visuals by

Kentaro Takahashi

Reporting from Fujiyoshida, Japan

April 26, 2026

Just after sunrise on a cloudless spring day, Junichi Horiuchi, wearing a Dodgers cap and hot-pink gloves and carrying a walking stick, was on the hunt.

Mr. Horiuchi, the leader of a civic group, was picking up trash and looking for unruly tourists at Arakurayama Sengen Park in Fujiyoshida, an idyllic town of about 46,000 in the foothills of Mount Fuji. He was joined in his quest by a local radio personality and a professor of medicine. The trio issued polite warnings to tourists who ventured off the designated path.

For Mr. Horiuchi, 54, the mission is personal: He broke almost 30 bones last year, he said, when he crashed his bicycle while trying to avoid a group of tourists taking an Abbey Road-style photo with Mount Fuji in the background.

“I want people to respect Japan’s culture and rules,” he said, surveying the early morning throng of tourists, some of whom had camped out all night for the perfect sunrise shot. “This is a matter of life and death.”

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Junichi Horiuchi, center, and his companions on the lookout for unruly tourists at a park in Fujiyoshida. “I want people to respect Japan’s culture and rules,” Mr. Horiuchi said.

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Fujiyoshida is at the center of Japan’s fight against badly behaved tourists.

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