A father in Japan was sharply reprimanded by police after he left his tired 7-year-old son alone on Mount Fuji and continued climbing toward the famed summit with his older child.
The 48-year-old man from Nagoya had been hiking the Fujinomiya Trail on Thursday with his two sons — one 7 and the other believed to be around 12 or 13 — when he abandoned the younger boy near the trail’s sixth checkpoint, about 8,000 feet up Japan’s highest mountain, Japan Today reported.
During the ascent, the younger child complained that he was exhausted. Instead of turning back, his father reportedly told him to “wait here” and pressed on toward Mount Fuji’s summit, which is marked as the 10th checkpoint.
“Even if it means having to give up on climbing the mountain together, leaving a child behind is unacceptable,” police told the father, according to the outlet.
The father later acknowledged his mistake, saying he had “made a rash decision, and I deeply regret it.”
According to the Mount Fuji website, the hike from the sixth checkpoint to the summit takes more than five hours, followed by roughly another two and a half hours to descend back to the same location.
Authorities believe the boy may have been left at around 4:30 a.m. Thursday, raising the possibility that he could have been stranded alone on the mountain for several hours.
But the child did not remain there long enough for his father and brother to return.
Around 7:40 a.m., a mountain hut worker near the sixth checkpoint spotted the child sitting alone on a bench, brought him inside for shelter and contacted police, according to the outlet.
The father had climbed near the eighth checkpoint, roughly three hours farther up the trail, when officers were able to get in touch with him.
Police ordered him to turn around and retrieve his son.
The child was unharmed and was safely reunited with his dad.
Police have not indicated whether the father will face any charges.
Officials also issued a broader warning to hikers, urging groups to stay together and set their pace according to the least physically capable member.
Mount Fuji rises more than 12,000 feet above sea level and is Japan’s tallest mountain.
It is an active but dormant volcano that last erupted in 1707, when the Hoei eruption sent volcanic ash as far as what is now Tokyo.
The Fujinomiya Trail is one of the main routes used by climbers attempting to reach the summit.
Last September, a 102-year-old Japanese man set a Guinness World Record as the oldest person to reach Mount Fuji’s summit for a second time.
In April 2025, a climber was rescued from the mountain twice in the same week after being airlifted off the peak — only to return later to retrieve his cellphone.
