This will enable a whole new kind of digital tourism, where people want to check in from the summit of Mount Fuji on Facebook and the like.
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“Working with telecommunications carrier NTT Docomo Inc., Yamanashi and Shizuoka prefectures will set up Wi-Fi hotspots at eight locations on the mountain, including three cottages around the summit and a general management center and a resort facility at the fifth station in Yamanashi Prefecture”, ASAHI News reported. To access the service, hikers will need to pick up a Wi-Fi card at one of mountain’s rest stations. The free wifi will only be available for 72 hours after they first log in.
Mount Fuji isn’t the first peak to receive free Wi-Fi services: Mount Everest has had wireless internet 17,000ft up at its base camp since 2010.
Japan has seen steady increases in foreign visitors to the mountain. Sometimes, “pre-registering” is even necessary: That is, creating an account for a venue’s free wifi beforehand, at some place where you do have Internet access.
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The number of hikers who climbed the mountain from the Yamanashi side between July 1 and July 7 came to 5,824, roughly half the number during the same period previous year. To create awareness of the WiFi hotspots, local officials are also planning to hand out as many as 70,000 brochures to hikers to give them instructions on how to use the Free Wifi.
