Yamanashi Prefecture says it will begin charging climbers for helicopter rescue operations on Mount Fuji during the period when the mountain is normally closed. The fee applies to people who do not submit a required climbing plan in advance during the offseason but later request rescue services using the prefecture’s disaster-response helicopter.
The policy is intended to address incidents that occur outside the regular climbing window. According to the prefecture, the charge is triggered by the failure to file a climbing plan ahead of time and the subsequent need for helicopter assistance. Both outlets describe the measure as a new cost-collection approach tied to offseason compliance, rather than a change to rescue operations themselves.
While the reports broadly agree on the central conditions—offseason timing, the climbing-plan requirement, and rescue by the prefecture helicopter—they emphasize them slightly differently, with one focusing on the charging mechanism for those who did not file plans and the other highlighting that the prefecture announces the start of the policy during the offseason period.
