Overtourism in Japan: New Fees and How to Avoid Crowds

Mount Fuji now charges a mandatory climbing fee of roughly ¥4,000 across all four main routes, with the Yoshida Trail capping daily climbers at around 4,000 and restricting entry for anyone without an overnight hut reservation — aimed squarely at stopping risky "bullet climbing," summiting overnight without rest. The Shizuoka-side trails now require a mandatory safety briefing and approval before you're allowed to start.

Kyoto introduced an accommodation tax that scales with room price, with the most expensive stays (over roughly ¥100,000 a night) facing a meaningfully higher nightly tourism tax, and the city is exploring resident/visitor dual pricing for buses to ease the chronic overcrowding around Kiyomizu-dera and Gion. Himeji Castle has already moved to resident-discounted pricing — general admission went up while local residents pay less — which measurably reduced attendance and increased revenue, and other sites are reportedly watching that result closely.

Early morning beats every other trick: most famous shrines and temples open well before the tour buses arrive, and a 7am visit to a place like Fushimi Inari or Kiyomizu-dera is a genuinely different experience from a 1pm one. Weekdays beat weekends, and shoulder-season months beat the sakura and koyo peaks by a wide margin — see our cherry blossom and autumn leaves guides for the actual timing.

For Mount Fuji specifically, book permits and hut reservations well ahead rather than assuming you can show up and climb. In Kyoto's geisha districts, stick to public streets and follow posted photography restrictions — some private alleys in Gion have been closed to tourists entirely after repeated complaints from residents about harassment and unwanted photography.