NEWSお知らせ

My name is Hiromu, and this is my first year working here at the eighth station. I am in a unique position, as I was born in Japan to parents who moved to America when I was very young. I grew up in America, and currently attend the University of Texas at Austin as a graduate student. I wanted to come here and work on Mount Fuji, partly to get away from the stress of graduate studies, and partly to work on my Japanese that has faltered during my upbringing in America.

Being fluent in English, I have been able to explain and communicate with our international guests in a way that is difficult for my coworkers. I find myself as a bridge between different cultures, within the pre-existing tension between customer service worker and customer. We have the occasional rude guest, but within my experience, most issues between our workers and our guests are issues of misunderstanding and lack of context, one I hope to clarify through my post here. Through preparation and empathy, I hope that my coworkers here are able to meet future potential guests as good representatives of their country, and that we are able to provide service fitting of Japan.

A couple points that I hope to clarify.

Indoor space on Mount Fuji is limited and valuable – We utilize almost every space possible within our hut, either for storage or for accommodating guests. As such, there are many times that we may ask guests to take one step back, move their belongings, or to stay outside. This is a bit surprising to some guests, but it is purely so that we can manage crowds and the flow of people when things get hectic.

Additionally, because of the lack of space, the hut is regularly crowded with guests. We urge everyone to be as quiet as possible as many hikers sleep very early to wake up to see the sunrise at Mount Fuji’s peak.

The bathroom is not free for visitors – The bathroom is free for guests staying the night at our hut, but cost 300 yen for all other visitors. Although Mount Fuji is a national park, the mountain huts are privately owned. This is surprising to many guests as private property is often not allowed on national parks in other countries. However, these mountain huts have been around longer than the national park status of Mount Fuji. As such, they have been allowed to continue to operate after its inauguration. Each mountain hut is responsible for maintaining its own bathrooms, there is no public funding provided. We collect a small fee from visitors to keep the bathrooms running and clean.

Speaking of bathroom cleanliness, our bathrooms may not be as clean as some guests wish.  We do our darnedest to keep them clean but are limited by a couple factors. The bathrooms are not flushing toilets as we do not have water to spare. They are bio-composting toilets, meaning we cannot allow harsh cleaning chemicals down the toilet. We only rinse and clean with alcohol and water. If they are running properly, there should be no smell but in the event of malfunction, it takes a long time to get someone to fix it. We appreciate your understanding either way.

Mount Fuji is a symbol of Japan. It has been an object of worship as well as artistic inspiration for over a thousand years. It combines natural beauty as well as Japanese history, religion, community, and culture. Any land further up and including the 8th station is owned by the local Sengen Taisha. It is not under the jurisdiction of any prefecture, and is treated as sacred land. Please come and enjoy Mount Fuji but also come with a sense of reverence and respect, and recognize that your climb is part of a history and tradition that dates back to the 600s. This is the single most important point we wish to communicate. Everything we do is in hopes of sharing and preserving this beauty for a wide audience and for future hikers.

(A picture of the 8th station in the year 1905. Ownership of the station has been passed down from generation to generation. The emblem on the left is the hiking stick brand provided at the time. Come visit to find out what it is now!)

As workers that live the entire climbing season at Mount Fuji, we share in your love and appreciation for Mount Fuji. We recognize that international guests invest much more time and money to visit Mount Fuji than our local visitors, and are grateful that you find it as valuable as we do. Through your cooperation and understanding, we hope that Mount Fuji will be as fun of an experience as it is for us, and that you will take home a deeper appreciation and understanding of a people who have loved this mountain for over a millennia.

And now, I will head back to cleaning toilets.

-Hiromu Koyama