KOFU: Traffic accidents caused by rental cars driven by foreign tourists have been rapidly increasing in areas of Yamanashi prefecture around the foot of Mount Fuji.
In 2024, the number of such traffic accidents was about 800, nearly double the number that occurred in the previous year.
The increase is thought to be partially attributable to the large numbers of foreign visitors who gather to take photos of Mount Fuji in residential areas and other places which are not developed as tourist spots. These tourists, therefore, find themselves more frequently driving on unfamiliar narrow roads.
In early July, residential areas of the village of Oshino, in Yamanashi prefecture, were teeming with cars bearing licence plates marked with the hiragana character “wa” – indicating that these are rental cars.
Near the village, there is a group of eight small, spring-fed ponds called the Oshino Hakkai. The site they are on is registered as a Unesco World Heritage location due to its connection to Mount Fuji. From this spot, visitors can catch a sweeping view of the mountain.
The shape of the kanji character for “eight” is seen as a good omen in East Asia, which has led to the ponds becoming well known overseas.
According to the local tourism association, the village received millions of visitors in the last fiscal year, mainly from overseas.
Hung Liwen, 32, a company employee who travelled to Japan from Taiwan, lamented that the large number of tourists who walk on the roadways in the areas around Mount Fuji cause her to feel scared while driving.
She drove a rental car from Tokyo to the village, despite the fact that traffic in Japan runs on the left side of the road, the opposite of how it works in Taiwan.
She shrugged and said that she drove at lower speeds than usual because she was steering in the opposite direction from what she was used to.
According to locals, there are many maze-like roads around Oshino Hakkai, and in some places, it is difficult for two cars to pass each other.
A local man in his 70s said he witnessed an accident in June in which the sideview mirrors of a rental car and a taxi collided.
He angrily added: “A lot of cars do not stop at stop signs. I’ve come close to being in accidents myself several times.”
In the Fuji Five Lakes area at the foot of Mount Fuji, an increasing number of sites have become tourist hot spots in recent years.
The town of Fujiyoshida in Yamanashi prefecture frequently sees more than 4,000 visitors a day to its Honcho Street, where tourists can take pictures of the retro townscape with Mount Fuji in the background.
In neighbouring Fujikawaguchiko, foreign tourists have begun to swarm the area around a certain convenience store, which is positioned in such a way that Mount Fuji appears to sit atop its roof.
Neither of these sites were tourist spots until recently, and many of the roads in and around them are narrow.
According to the Yamanashi prefectural police, there were 770 cases of accidents resulting in damage to property which were caused by rental cars driven by foreign tourists in the Fuji Five Lakes area in 2024.
This was over 1.8 times as many as the previous year, for which 417 such accidents were recorded. These cases now account for about 20 per cent of all accidents that resulted in property damage in the area.
The number of accidents resulting in people being injured also rose to four in 2024, from zero in the previous year. Fortunately, the police reported that none of these accidents caused any fatalities.
When the prefectural police analysed accidents involving rental cars driven by foreign tourists, they found that single-car accidents, such as cars colliding with walls and fences, accounted for more than 70 per cent of all these cases in the Fuji Five Lakes area in 2024.
About 20 per cent were collisions between cars, such as head-on crashes at intersections.
As a countermeasure, the prefectural police in February began making maps with markers indicating the locations of accidents caused by rental cars.
They also asked rental car shops to distribute leaflets in seven languages calling for careful driving.
There are many foreign tourists who visit the prefecture in cars rented elsewhere.
A deputy chief of the prefectural police’s traffic planning division said: “We shall make efforts to promote safety in places foreign tourists visit, such as accommodation facilities and tourist spots.” – The Japan News/ANN
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