Cherry Blossom Crowds Swamp Fujiyoshida, Residents Push Back Against Tourism Surge

Fujiyoshida has started drawing hard lines around one of Japan’s most photographed views, adding security guards, temporary toilets and road closures as residents push back against crowds at Arakurayama Sengen Park. The city canceled its 2026 cherry blossom festival in February, a celebration that began about a decade ago as a tourism-promotion effort, after visitor pressure kept building around the park below Mount Fuji.

The surge traces back to a viral image of snow-capped Mount Fuji, a red pagoda and cherry blossoms, a picture that turned Arakurayama Sengen Park into an international photo stop. Local officials say the problem grew over roughly 10 years as the image spread online and more travelers arrived chasing the same scene. Even without the festival, large numbers of visitors kept coming in early April 2026, and the city said foreign tourists have exceeded 10,000 a day in the area in recent years.

The strain has spilled into ordinary neighborhood life. Complaints have included chronic traffic jams, piles of litter, visitors knocking on private homes to borrow toilets and some tourists relieving themselves in front yards. Masatoshi Hada, Fujiyoshida’s tourism chief, said the area is “primarily an ordinary residential neighborhood,” underscoring the tension between a tourism economy built on Mount Fuji’s global appeal and the right of residents to move through their own streets without disruption.

Fujiyoshida’s official travel guide said the Arakurayama Sengen Park Sakura Matsuri would not be held in 2026. Instead, area security guards were to be stationed, temporary parking and temporary toilets were to be put in place, and road closures were scheduled from April 1 to 17, with some areas closed until April 19. The guide also warned that vehicles were prohibited from approaching the park and that waits at the viewing deck were expected to run one to three hours.

The pressure in Fujiyoshida fits a wider tourism boom across Japan. Monthly arrivals reached 3.08 million in March 2024, the first time the country had topped 3 million foreign visitors in a single month, helped by cherry blossom season and a yen that had fallen to a three-decade low. Japan then set a new annual record with 36.8 million foreign visitors in 2024, intensifying overtourism concerns in places from Kyoto and Kamakura to Fujiyoshida as the government pushes toward 60 million visitors by 2030.