Foreign tourist needs ambulance to pick him up at Mt. Fuji after hiking closed trail

[Please refrain from racist comments]

At around 1 o’clock in the morning on May 3, a 23-year-old Chinese tourist set out from the fifth station of the Fujinomiya Trail, located half-way up Mt. Fuji. From there, he and two acquaintances hiked through the pre-dawn darkness, reached the summit, and began making their descent. On their way down, near the ninth station, the man sat down to rest, but lost his balance and slipped down an embankment, suffering abrasions to his right hand and left arm in the process. He was able to continue under his own power back down to the fifth station, but once there asked one of his companions to call 110, Japan’s phone number for emergency services, and have an ambulance come pick him up.

Mt. Fuji is officially closed to hikers for most of the year, with an official climbing season of around two months that starts in midsummer. We’re still far enough away from this year’s Fuji trail openings that their dates haven’t even been announced yet, but for reference last year the Fujinomiya Trail opened on July 10.