Mount Fuji crowds swell

Cherry-blossom crowds are swamping some of Mount Fuji’s best-known photo spots, with Fujiyoshida warning that roads around Arakurayama Sengen Park are narrow, one-way and short on parking. (city.fujiyoshida.yamanashi.jp) The city’s tourism page says the Chureito Pagoda view has become “increasingly popular” and that congestion is especially bad on weekends and during spring hanami season. For the 2025 Sakura Matsuri, officials fully closed the park’s main parking lot from April 1 to April 18 and shifted drivers to temporary lots at local schools. (city.fujiyoshida.yamanashi.jp) Arakurayama Sengen Park is one of Japan’s most recognizable Fuji viewpoints: the pagoda, cherry trees and mountain can all fit into one frame. The national tourism site says the blossoms there typically reach full bloom in mid-April. (japan.travel) The crowding is landing just as Japan heads toward Golden Week, the late-April to early-May holiday stretch that drives a big domestic travel surge. JTB said on April 2 that total Golden Week travelers in 2026 are projected at 24.47 million, up 1.9% from a year earlier. (jtbcorp.jp) But the spending picture is tighter than the headline traveler count suggests. JTB projects domestic travelers at 23.9 million, up 1.7%, while average planned spending per domestic traveler falls to 46,000 yen, or 97.9% of last year’s level, and domestic travel consumption slips to 1.0994 trillion yen, or 99.5% year on year. (jtbcorp.jp) JTB’s survey points to why: 45.8% of people who are not traveling during Golden Week said crowds were the reason, 34.6% cited high travel costs, and 24.3% said their household budget was too tight. Among travelers, one-night, two-day trips were the most common plan at 39.9%. (jtbcorp.jp) The same report shows demand spreading outside the holiday peak instead of disappearing. JTB found 16.7% planned to travel during Golden Week and the days around it, while 10.1% planned trips only before or after the holiday period, compared with 6.7% traveling only during Golden Week itself. (jtbcorp.jp) Foreign visitors face another cost change later this year. Industry reports say Japan Rail Pass prices for overseas tourists are set to rise on October 1, 2026, the first increase since the major 2023 revision, though the official JR Group reservation site currently states only that the pass is jointly offered by the six Japan Railways companies and does not yet show the new fare table. (economictimes.indiatimes.com) (japanrailpass-reservation.net) For now, the pressure point is simpler: one famous Fuji image is drawing more people than the surrounding streets and parking can easily absorb, even as many Japanese travelers are shortening trips and watching every yen. (city.fujiyoshida.yamanashi.jp) (jtbcorp.jp)