I don’t think 1,000 yen is expensive. But I have no idea how the money will be spent, so if I were asked to pay again in the future, I honestly don’t know whether I’d do it.

I agree. It's not the idea of paying 1000 yen that bothers me, it's the fact that after 20 years in this country, I seriously doubt the money will be used for anything I agree with, and it's doubtful it will be used to do anything for the mountain. I've climbed it a number of times, and until it has been established that this fee is being properly used to benefit the mountain, I will be refusing to pay.

pretty simple. It will be used for drinking parties and onsen trips

pretty simple. It will be used for drinking parties and onsen trips

Now come on. You've just got to phrase it better.

It'll be used for "team-building promotion and local committee and delegation activities (possibly including drinking parties and onsen trips) that will facilitate discussions and co-operation that might lead to preliminary plans, which, subject to multiple rounds of further discussions and voting, could possibly lead to the establishment of a putative project schedule for the implementation of a super-committee that can then, if appropriate approval is granted and provided that reliable corporate partners are induced to get involved, decide to........ send some people up the mountain to pick up litter and maintain the steps and paths when needed."

The Key word is Voluntary- Just like Museums even though they dont say it,it's a "Suggested " donation. I did see a need for a clean-crew & some of these "Tourists" are disrespectful of Fuji-Yama!

Payment of 1,000 yen should be on voluntary basis which should be just like donating to shrines or temples for upkeep. I have been to temples where monks insist on a certain amount of min. donation to either enter the temple or to pray. If a minimum money is to be paid, then I don't see that being considered as "Donation or Charity".

I remember I went on a scuba diving expedition with a group of Australian students during my university days and one foreigner who ate a banana threw the skin into the sea, only to be told by one of us angrily to ask him to jump into the water and pick up the skin.

On a separate occasion, I went scuba diving in Taiwan organised by a commercially minded instructor who owned a diving shop, he brought along spear guns with his local group of students and caught a few fish including picking up live corals during the trip. The locals were very cheerful during the entire trip but my friends and I were pretty much dismay about them.

Well, the next day when they woke up from the happy slumber, to their horror, they found out those "Live corals" walked by themselves at night and went on a long stroll, never to comeback......... (of course, we threw them back into the sea while they slept soundly at nights!) My friends and I were so happy for what we did the next day and those days after!

After that, I warned the organiser that as a PADI instructor, he shouldn't encourage his students to go diving with spear guns or with the intention to cause harm to the ocean. This will also put other divers in danger of being harm. He should educate his students to be a nature lover instead. Me and my friends will not join his commercial scuba trip again if he ever intended to bring along any spear gun in the future. From then on, he never brought any spear gun whenever we tagged along.

So, for any nature lovers, maintaining and cleaning up during our expedition trip such as camping, climbing, etc. should be at our own accords how we want to safe and care for the environment. Our presence will definitely have significant impact to the surrounding but it is not only how much we could minimise our impact to the environment, but also bringing positive change and improvement to the place where we stand or dive!!!!!

Written by; Joel Lim - One of those nature lovers!