With 2023 marking the 10th anniversary of Mount Fuji’s designation as a UNESCO World Cultural Heritage site, authorities are debating how to curb the number of tourists on Japan’s highest mountain and ease the environmental burden tourists create.

The government of Yamanashi prefecture, located on the northern side of the mountain, is considering building a rail transport from Mount Fuji’s foot to the fifth station on the existing Fuji Subaru Line toll road.

Although the prefecture planned in late June to start technical surveys soon, some parties have expressed opposition, arguing that the mountain’s designation as a World Heritage site emphasizes its significance as a “sacred mountain.”

Yamanashi prefecture is considering running a light rail transit system on tracks to be laid on a 17-mile section of the Fuji Subaru Line toll road. Light rail is a low trolley with limited noise and vibration.

One train would accommodate up to 120 passengers and is estimated to take about 52 minutes to reach the fifth station and about 74 minutes to come down the mountain, the additional time due to a speed limit for descent.

Construction is projected to cost just over $1 billion. Based on surveys among climbers, the prefecture estimates that about 3 million people would use the service annually if the round-trip fare was set at 10,000 yen (about $72).

A panel of experts in 2019 considered the pros and cons of such a system, and a draft plan was drawn up in 2021. This fiscal year, the government plans to conduct technical surveys to determine a train’s ability to negotiate the steep slope, as well as ice and snow.

It will also research battery power to operate the train as an alternative to setting up an overhead power line.

In 2019, 5.06 million tourists visited Mount Fuji’s fifth station near Yamanashi prefecture. UNESCO is calling for curbing tourist numbers, arguing that too many visitors could harm the mountain’s sacred atmosphere.

The prefecture says it is currently difficult to limit the number of tourists because the Fuji Subaru Line toll road, used by most visitors, is a public road.

“We already have restrictions on private cars, but under existing laws, it’s hard to further regulate vehicle traffic,” a prefectural official said.

Yamanashi believes a rail transport would make it easier to control visitor numbers because service can be limited.

It also says a light rail transit would be easier on the environment, since it does not emit exhaust.

But some folks in the area are against the plan.

“Mount Fuji is a sacred mountain. We don’t want it to be touched anymore,” said Shigeru Horiuchi, mayor of Fuji­yoshida city in Yamanashi, at a media conference in May.

A local tourism federation and others also oppose the project, insisting that the government should consider using electric buses instead.

Regardless of what idea is agreed upon in Yamanashi, it would need the approval of the International Council on Monuments and Sites because the mountain is a World Heritage site.

“It’s necessary to carefully evaluate the impact the development might have on the environment,” said Yasuyoshi Okada, president of ICOMOS Japan.