On a grey, rainy Saturday a steady stream of tour buses arrive at a base station of Japan's Mount Fuji depositing dozens of lightly dressed foreign tourists in front of souvenir shops and restaurants.
The scene evokes a theme park image, not the veneration most Japanese would expect below the 3,776-metre mountain worshipped as sacred by the Japanese, and a source of pride for its perfectly symmetrical form.
But a recent surge in inbound tourists to Japan has led to extreme levels of pollution and other strains, authorities say, adding they may be forced to take drastic measures such as restricting the number of visitors by making the mountain only accessible by a yet-to-be-built tram system. Mt Fuji was listed as a UNESCO World Heritage site 10 years ago, further boosting its popularity. But the distinction came with conditions that Japan reduce overcrowding, environmental harm from visitors and fix the artificial landscape, such as the large parking lots constructed to accommodate tourists.
Singapore Latest News, Singapore Headlines
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