A 48-year-old father has been reprimanded by Japanese police after leaving his seven-year-old son alone on Mount Fuji for several hours. The incident occurred on the Fujinomiya route, one of the main paths to the summit of Japan's highest peak.
The boy was reportedly found sitting on a bench at a mountain hut near the sixth station, at an elevation of over 2,000 meters (6,500 feet), in foggy and rainy conditions. He had complained to his father that he was tired, at which point the father instructed him to "wait here" and continued his ascent with his elder son.
Staff at the mountain hut discovered the child around 7:30 a.m. local time on Thursday and alerted the police. Authorities located the father at the eighth station, a three-hour hike above where his son was left.
Officers issued a strong reprimand to the father upon his return. "Even if it means having to give up on climbing the mountain together, leaving a child behind is unacceptable," one officer reportedly told him, according to Japan Today. The father apologized for his decision, describing it as "rash."
Guides suggest that ascending Mount Fuji from the fifth station, the starting point for the Fujinomiya route, takes approximately five hours, with an additional three hours for the descent. The family had reportedly brought a soft drink and a snack for the boy.