A father was issued a police warning after leaving his seven-year-old son alone on Mount Fuji while he continued hiking, telling the boy to “wait there.”
Boy Found Alone at Mountain Hut
Police were called to the sixth station of the Fujinomiya Trail, on the Shizuoka side of Japan’s highest mountain, at around 7.40am local time on August 20. An employee at a mountain hut reported that a child had been left alone.
The boy was found sitting on a bench near the hut, around 8,170ft (2,490m) above sea level. According to Japanese broadcaster TV Asahi, the boy had been climbing the mountain with his father and two other people.
Father’s Warning and National Debate
The boy told police he was “tired” and that his “dad went ahead,” telling him to “wait there.” The boy, who is from Nagoya in Aichi Prefecture, was found unharmed, according to Hong Kong-based outlet The Standard.
Police summoned the boy’s father, issued him with a warning, and returned the child to his care. While children in Japan are often encouraged to develop independence from a young age, the incident has sparked a national debate over child safety.
Mount Fuji, an active stratovolcano with a summit elevation of 12,389ft (3,776m), is around 60 miles south-west of Tokyo.
