Lake Kawaguchi still open
Not all towns near Fuji shut down — Fujikawaguchiko is still holding a cherry‑blossom festival at Lake Kawaguchi, where about 200 Somei‑yoshino trees are reported to be at peak bloom. (www3.nhk.or.jp) (independent.co.uk)
A lot of readers saw “Mount Fuji” and “festival canceled” and assumed the whole area had shut down. It hadn’t: the cancellation was in neighboring Fujiyoshida, while Fujikawaguchiko was still running its own Lake Kawaguchi cherry-blossom festival on April 9. (independent.co.uk) Fujikawaguchiko’s event is scheduled for March 28 to April 12, 2026, along the north shore walking trail at Lake Kawaguchi near the circular hall. The town’s tourism site says admission is free and nighttime illuminations run from sunset to 9 p.m. (fujisan.ne.jp) The draw is not a vague “spring atmosphere” but a very specific row of Somei-yoshino cherry trees, the pale pink variety that dominates Japan’s blossom season. NHK and other reports said about 200 of those trees around Lake Kawaguchi were at peak bloom this week. (nhk.or.jp) (independent.co.uk) That matters because Fujikawaguchiko and Fujiyoshida sit near the same mountain but manage different tourist pressure points. One town can cancel a festival at Arakurayama Sengen Park without automatically canceling blossom events around Lake Kawaguchi. (independent.co.uk) The place that canceled is famous for the Chureito Pagoda view, where Mount Fuji, a five-story pagoda, and cherry trees all fit into one postcard frame. That image pulls huge crowds into a compact hillside park and nearby residential streets. (hiddenjapan-gems.com) Fujiyoshida’s 2026 cancellation was tied to overtourism complaints: traffic jams, trespassing, littering, and visitors spilling into neighborhoods built for daily life, not nonstop photo lines. Even with the festival canceled, the city still expected people to come for the blossoms and planned crowd-control measures. (hiddenjapan-gems.com) (dovisa.com) That tension has been building around Fuji for more than one season. In 2024, Fujikawaguchiko put up a black screen near a Lawson convenience store after tourists crowded sidewalks and roads for a viral Mount Fuji photo angle. (time.com) Japan has also tightened mountain access itself. On the climbing side, officials introduced stronger crowd-control rules and a 4,000-yen fee on Fuji routes in 2025 as part of a broader effort to reduce congestion and environmental strain. (fujisan-climb.jp) (stripes.com) So the April 2026 picture around Fuji was not “closed” or “open.” It was more selective than that: the most overloaded photo spot pulled back, while Lake Kawaguchi kept welcoming visitors to a festival built around a longer lakeside trail and a bloom window that still had room to use. (fujisan.ne.jp) (independent.co.uk)
