Japan Police Reprimand Father for Leaving 7-Year-Old on Mount Fuji Trail

3 articles · Updated · KOMO News · Aug 21

A 48-year-old Nagoya father was ordered to turn back after police found he had left his 7-year-old son alone on Mount Fuji’s Fujinomiya Trail while climbing on with an older child.
Around 7:40 a.m., a mountain hut worker found the boy sitting alone near the sixth station, about 2,500 meters up, and called police as rain fell and fog began to build.
The father had reportedly told the child to wait there after he became tired, then continued toward the summit; police reached him near the eighth station and said leaving a child behind was unacceptable.
The boy was unharmed and reunited with his father, who told police he had made a rash decision and deeply regretted it; authorities had not said whether he would face formal penalties.
Police used the case to urge hiking groups on Mount Fuji to stay together and set their pace by the least-stamina member because mountain conditions can shift quickly.