A father has been reprimanded by police after leaving his exhausted seven-year-old son unattended on Mount Fuji to finish a hike with his older child.
A mountain hut worker spotted the boy sitting alone on a bench at the Fujinomiya trail’s sixth station—roughly 8,200 feet above sea level—and alerted authorities.
According to Japanese broadcaster TV Asahi, the father told the boy to wait behind after he became too tired to keep climbing.
Five hours later, the father and older brother returned to find police waiting with the child. While the boy was unharmed, officers warned the father that his actions could carry criminal liability. The man expressed remorse before being reunited with his son.
Given Mount Fuji’s unpredictable weather and frequent cases of altitude sickness among climbers, local authorities have tightened safety measures in recent years, including daily visitor caps and mandatory safety briefings.
