1/25/2007

Fuji mountain of trash — World Heritage site wannabe

Mt. Fuji, 3 other sites to be World Heritage candidates
Tuesday January 23, 7:53 PM, Kyodo News–The Cultural Affairs Agency decided Tuesday to add four sites including Mt. Fuji to the provisional list of World Cultural Heritage candidates for consideration by the U.N. Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization, bringing the total to eight….more…

Now for the rest of the story…
Fuji-san is a stinking mountain of raw sewage and trash (富士ごみ山 ). Several years ago Japan once applied for but had to beg to withdraw its application to make Mount Fuji a UNESCO World Heritage site because [Oh the horror!] they would have to clean up the mountain.

If you must do Must do Mount Fuji (as I have three times) read my 3Yen guide to climbing it: Mount Fuji — Just say no. Basically, my suggestion is to climb (semi-illegally) in the off-season rather that smell the shit of tens of thousands of climbers who came before you like this. photo.
Click for a full view of the horror.

Posted by Taro in General, Society | 2 Comments »

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1. MARKed TRAIL Says:
   January 25th, 2007 at 2:33 pm

   I just found this description of your “rest of the story” in my files.
   

   in 1995, UNESCO representatives concluded that although Mount Fuji was worthy of World Heritage listing, Japan first would have to solve the pollution problems and implement an effective management plan.

   Japanese citizens and organizations responded by launching a clean-up campaign, and their efforts have been successful. Nearly 900 pounds of garbage were carried off the summit in 2003, and another four tons were collected from visitor rest areas along the trails. However, Fuji still has not been deemed eligible for World Heritage site listing and environmental problems persist. Environmentalists identify sewage as the next challenge. With thousands of visitors spending an average of 10 hours a day on the mountain during the climbing season, Fuji requires a significant waste-management system. Unfortunately, that system has consisted of collecting human waste in storage tanks and dumping it down the mountain when the climbing season closes, leaving “white rivers” of toilet paper and a horrible stench.

2. Taro Says:
   June 9th, 2007 at 3:57 pm

   UPDATE:
   Trash spoiling Japan’s sacred Mount Fuji
   Yahoo! News, June 8, 2007
   ….In January, the government announced it was adding Fuji to the list of tentative Japanese candidates for the World Heritage Committee for consideration at a meeting this month in New Zealand.
   Both UNESCO and government officials agree trash at the mountain will not decide Fuji’s status. The key issue is how unique a place is.
   Long a site of worship and the subject of poetry and paintings –perhaps best exemplified by Katsuhika Hokusai’s famous 19th century woodblock print “Great Wave Off Kanagawa” — Fuji has a prominent place in Japanese cultural life that gives it the uniqueness sought by UNESCO, government officials say.
   For some volunteers like Shinichiro Hazama, a 20-year-old university student, that prospect gives the cleanup an extra degree of urgency.
   “Becoming a cultural property would make Mount Fuji a symbol of Japanese culture around the world. I’d hate for people to see the trash around here and think it means that Japan is a culture of garbage,” he said…more…

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