Published : 23 Aug 2026, 03:26 AM
Updated : 08 Sep 2026, 09:35 AM
A man who left his 7-year-old son alone on Mount Fuji after the boy complained of feeling tired during a family hike has been reprimanded by Japanese police.
A worker on Japan's highest mountain discovered the child sitting alone on a bench near the sixth station of the Fujinomiya trail, at an altitude of more than 2,000m, on Thursday, The Guardian reports.
The worker invited the boy to shelter at the station before calling police, who took him into protective custody, the British daily said.
It emerged that the boy had told his father he was too tired to continue while they were hiking up the trail in the early hours of the morning.
The man, from Japan's fourth-largest city, Nagoya, gave his son some snacks and a soft drink before telling him to wait.
He then continued his five-hour ascent to the summit with the boy's older brother, who had already gone ahead.
It would have taken him about eight hours to return, according to local reports.
By the time police officers managed to reach the boy's father, he had climbed as far as the eighth station, a three-hour hike from where he had left his son.
Officers told him to turn back, and after reuniting him with his son, reprimanded him for leaving the child alone on an active volcano.
"Even if it means having to give up on climbing the mountain together, leaving a child behind is unacceptable," officers said, as per Japan Today.
Weather on the mountain, which has its own microclimate, is unpredictable and can change rapidly, with hypothermia posing a serious risk to hikers even in summer, the report said.
The father is said to have apologised to police, saying: "I made a rash decision, and I deeply regret it."
Local police are urging hikers to consider the abilities and stamina of everyone in their group when planning an ascent on Mount Fuji, and to adjust their pace accordingly, according to the daily.
