JAPANTIMES

Shizuoka Prefecture plans to use some ¥14 million in admission fees collected on a trial basis from Mount Fuji hikers in summer 2013 to bolster measures for safety and environmental protection, NHK reported Wednesday.
 
During the 10-day trial, hikers were asked to pay ¥1,000 each on a voluntary basis, and a total of some ¥15 million was collected. Almost half of the hikers declined to pay the fee.
 
At a meeting in Numazu Tuesday of prefectural officials and people involved in managing mountain trails on the 3,776-meter World Heritage site, they decided to use ¥8.7 million of the collected fees for a project to rent portable GPS units for hikers to keep track of their whereabouts on the mountain, NHK said.
 
Another ¥5.2 million will be used to keep toilets clean at mountain lodges, officials were quoted as sayng. Maintaining clean toilets has become a major problem in recent years that needs to be addressed quickly.
 
Following the trial fee collection in 2013, Shizuoka Prefecture put the policy in full motion this season. A total of some ¥43.8 million was collected and how to spend the money will be decided in the next fiscal year, NHK said.