Father leaves 7-year-old son alone on Mount Fuji to continue hike, reports say

A 48-year-old father left his seven-year-old son alone on Japan's highest mountain, Mount Fuji, for several hours while he continued the hike with his older son, according to police reports. The boy was discovered on a bench near the sixth station of the hiking route, situated at over 2,000 meters, during foggy and rainy conditions.

The father had instructed his son to wait there after he expressed fatigue. After finding the child, police confronted the father upon his return from the higher station, three hours after the initial separation. The boy was reportedly tired and irritable after waiting for eight hours. The father reportedly apologized for his impulsive decision, emphasizing the inappropriateness of leaving a child behind.

This incident occurred on the Fujinomiya route, which is accessible by public transport and takes around five hours to reach the summit, with an additional three hours required to descend. Despite the mountain's status as a World Heritage site and a traditional Holy Mountain, it attracts around 200,000 annual climbers, with daily limits in place to prevent overcrowding.