Father leaves 7-year-old son alone on Mount Fuji to continue hike

A Japanese father has been reprimanded by police after leaving his tired seven-year-old son alone on Mount Fuji for several hours while he continued climbing the mountain with his older son.

The boy was found sitting on a bench near a mountain hut at the sixth station of the Fujinomiya trail, more than 2,000 metres above sea level, in foggy and rainy conditions, according to Japanese media reports cited by the BBC and CNN affiliate TV Asahi.

The father, 48, had reportedly told the boy to “wait here” after he complained of being tired and reluctant to continue the hike. He then continued towards the summit with his older son.

Mountain hut staff spotted the child alone at around 7:30am local time on Thursday and alerted police. Officers later located the father between the seventh and eighth stations, several hours after he had left his younger son behind.

When the father returned, about five hours later, police were waiting with the boy, who was unharmed but reportedly tired and fussy after spending hours alone. The child was then handed back to his father.

Police warned the man that he could face criminal liability over the incident. He reportedly apologised and expressed remorse for what he described as a rash decision.

“Even if it means having to give up on climbing the mountain together, leaving a child behind is unacceptable,” an officer told him, according to reports cited by the BBC.

CNN, citing its affiliate TV Asahi, reported that the boy had been left with a soft drink and a snack while his father and older brother continued their ascent.

Mount Fuji, Japan’s highest mountain, stands at 3,776 metres (12,388 feet) and attracts around 200,000 climbers each year. Its weather can change rapidly, while climbers have also required rescue in the past after suffering altitude sickness and other injuries.

Authorities have introduced measures in recent years to improve safety and control overcrowding, including daily limits on climbers on some routes and mandatory safety briefings.

The Fujinomiya route, where the incident occurred, begins at the fifth station and takes around five hours to reach the summit, with several more hours required for the descent.

Mount Fuji, an active volcano southwest of Tokyo, was designated a UNESCO World Heritage site in 2013 and is regarded as one of Japan’s three sacred mountains.