MT FUJI GETS AN ENTRANCE GATE

Officials have set up an entrance gate for a hiking trail on Japan’s most famous mountain, Mount Fuji, ahead of the start of the climbing season. The gate will regulate the number of hikers who visit Japan’s highest mountain, because there have been problems on the trail. Some trekkers climb Mt. Fuji at night, while others have set up tents on the trail, creating a nuisance. Starting on July 1, the daily number of climbers able to use the route will be limited to 4,000. The gate will be closed between 4 p.m. and 3 a.m. Hikers and climbers will be charged 2,000 yen, or around 13 dollars.
* Jeeze, Space Mountain at Disneyland is open longer than that.
* They have to charge money, ’cause with smartphone cameras, the mountain barely sells any Fujifilm.
* The gate will be closed between 4 p.m. and 3 a.m.? So if you enter at 3:55 p.m., do you have to turn around and leave in five minutes, or stay inside until 3 a.m.?
* Once again, Japan tries to control the environment. Won’t they ever learn, that history shows again and again how nature points out the folly of man? That’s the immutable law of the Blue Öyster Cult.