Screen was put in place as response to tourists, many from overseas, littering and blocking traffic.

Back in the spring, a branch of convenience store chain Lawson in Yamanashi Prefecture became Japan’s most unexpected attraction for foreign tourists in recent memory. But while Japanese convenience stores have achieved international fame for the quality and variety of their food and drink offerings, foreign travelers weren’t flocking to the Lawson branch in the town of Fujikawaguchiko to pick up low-calorie fried chicken, Iyoshi Cola canned sour cocktails, or any other new Lawson-exclusive treats. Tourists were there for the view, and so many of them that the town eventually put up a screen to block the desired line of sight.

Specifically, foreign tourists were descending in droves on the area to see the unique view of Mt. Fuji which appears to rising right out of Lawson’s roof from certain angles. Unfortunately, tourists’ manners weren’t as nice as the scenery, with many leaving litter behind and jaywalking and blocking traffic as they scurried across and into the street to line up the photos they wanted to take. Making the whole thing doubly troublesome is that the most popular position to take photos of the Lawson and Mt. Fuji was from across the street from the store, with tourists blocking the sidewalk and access to a dental office, whose lot isn’t set up to handle huge numbers of people hanging out in front of the building’s entrance.

When repeated requests to stop throwing trash on the ground, running into the street, and making life difficult for the dental clinic staff and their patients did nothing, the city took the dramatic measure of putting up a large black screen, 20 meters (65.6 feet) in length and 2.5 meters tall between the dental clinic and the street, completely blocking the view of Mt Fuji, in order to discourage tourists from trying to take pictures from there.

The screen was installed on May 21, but now it’s finally been taken down. Late summer is typhoon season in Japan, and last Friday a powerful storm was forecast to blow through the Fujikawaguchiko area. A 20-meter screen could easily turn into a dangerous, violently whipping mass of material if it were to become unsecured in the gale-force winds, and so last Thursday city officials made the decision to take down the screen ahead of the typhoon’s arrival. But then they left the screen down for a few more days, and since they haven’t had any problems with ill-mannered tourists since, the city is now saying that they’re keeoing the screen down permanently, or at least indefinitely, with a city spokesperson saying:

“[As long as tourists continue to display good manners], we will not be putting the screen back up.”

Of course, it’s possible that Fujikawaguchiko didn’t see a huge influx in bad-mannered tourists after taking the screen down last Thursday simply because most people thought the screen was still up and didn’t have any impetus to head to a neighborhood that doesn’t have much else for travelers to do. It’s also possible that social media shutterbugs have moved on to the next trend, and with smaller groups of visitors come smaller chances of an ultra-inconsiderate person being among that day’s tourists. Or maybe, just maybe, Yamanashi’s screen has been a reminder that not being considerate of others can lead to ruining things for everybody, and so visitors are being more aware of and respectful to the neighborhood’s local community.

Regardless of the reason, though, it’s good to know that the people of Fujikawaguchiko have this view of Mt. Fuji back, and hopefully they’ll get to keep it.

Source: Jiji
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