Father Reprimanded After Leaving 7-Year-Old Son Alone on Mount Fuji

Japanese police reprimanded a 48-year-old father from Nagoya after he left his seven-year-old son alone on Mount Fuji for several hours while continuing a climb with the boy’s older brother.

Staff at a mountain hut discovered the child sitting on a bench near the sixth station of the Fujinomiya route, at an altitude of more than 2,000 metres, early on Thursday morning. Conditions were foggy and rainy. The boy had been given a soft drink and a snack and told to wait.

His father had already reached the eighth station, about a three-hour hike higher, when officers contacted him and ordered him to turn back. The family was reunited and the father received a formal scolding. Officers told him that leaving a child behind is unacceptable even if it means abandoning the summit attempt.

The father apologised and described the decision as rash. The boy was taken into protective custody temporarily before being returned to the family. Mount Fuji is an active volcano with its own microclimate; hypothermia remains a risk even in summer.

The Fujinomiya trail begins at the fifth station, which is accessible by public transport. Local media reported the incident widely, prompting discussion of parental responsibility on Japan’s most famous peak during the busy climbing season.