Japanese town blocks view of Mount Fuji to deter tourists

A SMALL Japanese town at the base of Mount Fuji is erecting a gigantic screen to block off a viral view of the iconic peak in front of the “world’s prettiest convenience store” after it began attracting dangerously large crowds.

Hundreds of visitors have been flocking to Fujikawaguchiko after travel bloggers began posting videos and pictures of the epic 12,388 ft mountain, known locally as Fuji-san, framed on top of a popular local supermarket chain, Lawsons.

The low roof of the 24-hour store offers a rare unobstructed view of Japan’s most famous mountain and is just a two-and-a-half-hour train ride south-west of Tokyo. One blogger described it as the “prettiest convenience store with a Mount Fuji view”.

But the space outside the shop has since been taken over by jostling tourists looking for likes, much to the dismay of locals.

Visitors regularly lie in the road as friends take photographs, they say, while others stand in the road and block the traffic or obstruct parking spaces.

A 26-year-old Moroccan tourist hit by a car as she crossed a road on Thursday is reported to be in a coma.

There have also been complaints about the growing rubbish.

The local council has now ordered a screen 65ft wide and more than 8ft tall to be put up in early May to deter any more social media-hungry snappers.

New pedestrian crossings and the addition of private security guards had not worked, said a local official.

“As visitors’ manners have not improved, we have no choice but to install the screen as a last resort,” he said.

Tourist numbers in Japan have soared in the first quarter of the year, with a record three million arrivals in March.