Losing its way

In April 2023, groups and outdoor gear manufacturers involved in trail maintenance formed the Japan Trail Alliance volunteer group in Tokyo. The group has called on national and local governments to increase staff and budgets for trail maintenance and is also calling for cooperation from climbers through events.

"Mountain trails are in critical condition," said Jiro Ito, 43, a representative of the group. "We need to build a sustainable system that does not rely on volunteers."

The Lani Head Trail, a 1.6-kilometer trail leading to the 929-meter-high Mount Mitake in Ome, Tokyo, has recently become a popular hiking route partly because it is close to Mitake Station of the railway.

Until five years ago, the trail was overgrown and abandoned. Its revival began in 2019. Wakana Fukushima, a TV personality who serves as "Mitake health ambassador", started to repair the route.

"I want to increase the number of climbers," she said. She recruited volunteers to cut weeds and restore the trail in 2020.

Fukushima, who still conducts maintenance on the trail twice a month, said, "You can climb the mountain only because someone is maintaining the trail. I hope that those who hike here will help maintain it."

In mid-October, a road was reopened on the 2,599-meter-high Mount Kinpu, connecting to the old Mitake Kodo trail in Kofu. The mountain, which flourished as a center of ascetic practices in ancient times, is on the border of Yamanashi and Nagano prefectures.

The road had been in disrepair and the trail was hardly used, but local mountain guides planned to revive it so that local culture and history could be kept alive. The Kofu city government and other local organizations raised part of the maintenance costs through a crowdfunding campaign.

According to the city, the restoration of the old trail has shortened a round trip to the summit by two hours, and the number of climbers rose to about 30 in the first month after the trail was restored.

"I hope the restoration of the trail will encourage locals to take a fresh look at their own mountains," a city official said.

The Japan News