Police reprimand father for leaving seven-year-old son alone on Mount Fuji
A man was warned by authorities after abandoning his seven-year-old son at a high-altitude station on Mount Fuji, prompting police to take the child into protective custody.
A hiker discovered a seven-year-old boy sitting alone on a bench near the sixth station of the Fujinomiya trail on Mount Fuji, more than 2,000 metres above sea level, on Thursday. The worker invited the child to shelter and alerted police, who placed the boy under protective custody.
The child had told his father he was too tired to continue the early-morning ascent. The father, a resident of Nagoya, gave the boy snacks and a soft drink, then instructed him to wait while he and the boy’s older brother continued toward the summit, a climb that would take about five hours. Police later located the father at the eighth station, roughly three hours from where he had left his son, and ordered him to turn back.
"Even if it means having to give up on climbing the mountain together, leaving a child behind is unacceptable," officers said.
The father apologized, stating he had made a rash decision and deeply regretted it. Police reminded hikers to assess the stamina and abilities of all group members and to adjust their pace, noting the mountain’s unpredictable weather and the risk of hypothermia even in summer.