3 min readNew DelhiFeb 6, 2026 04:31 PM IST
A popular cherry blossom celebration near Mount Fuji has been called off this year after local authorities pointed to growing concerns over unruly tourist behaviour. Officials in Fujiyoshida, a city in central Japan, said Tuesday that the annual cherry blossom festival at Arakurayama Sengen Park will not be held. The event, which has run for the past 10 years, typically draws around 2,00,000 visitors during the spring bloom, according to The Guardian.
Explaining the decision, Fujiyoshida Mayor Shigeru Horiuchi said the strain on local life had become impossible to ignore. “Behind [Mount Fuji’s] beautiful landscape is the reality that the quiet lives of citizens are threatened. We have a strong sense of crisis,” he said.
“To protect the dignity and living environment of our citizens, we have decided to bring the curtain down on the 10-year-old festival,” Horiuchi added.
City authorities cited a pattern of disruptive incidents involving visitors, including people entering private homes without permission to use toilets, trespassing on residential property, littering, and even “defecating in private yards and raising a fuss when residents pointed this out,” according to an official statement.
There have also been safety concerns for children, with parents complaining that students walking to school have been shoved aside as tourists pack narrow sidewalks, Kyodo News reported.
A town in Japan has canceled its cherry blossom festival due to badly behaved tourists
Authorities in Fujiyoshida say visitors were trespassing, littering, and defecating in private yards pic.twitter.com/U9CszZTNKe
— Dexerto (@Dexerto) February 5, 2026
During peak blossom season, the city says it can see more than 10,000 visitors a day. Officials attributed the surge to a weak yen and the “explosive popularity fuelled by social media.”
Although the festival itself has been cancelled, Arakurayama Sengen Park is still expected to draw large crowds in April, thanks to its postcard-famous view of Mount Fuji. Visitors often line up for hours to access the site. To cope with the influx, the city plans to step up security, create temporary parking spaces and install portable toilets.
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Cherry blossom season, known as hanami, literally “looking at flowers,” is one of Japan’s busiest travel periods, attracting both locals and overseas tourists to parks, temples and scenic landmarks nationwide.
Japan has seen a sharp rise in tourism in recent years, boosted by social media exposure and favourable exchange rates, with destinations like Mount Fuji and Kyoto bearing the brunt of the crowds.
The country is not alone in grappling with ‘overtourism’. Earlier this week, Italian authorities introduced a €2 entry fee for access to the viewing area around Rome’s Trevi Fountain, which had previously been free. Officials said the move is aimed at controlling visitor numbers and funding maintenance of the historic site.
AloJapan.com