Following incidents in which people have been stranded on Mount Fuji as a result of irresponsible climbing, debate has erupted in cities near the national landmark over whether to make offseason hikers pay out of pocket for rescue fees.

At a news conference held last Friday, Hidetada Sudo, the mayor of the city of Fujinomiya in Shizuoka Prefecture, expressed anger over some climbers¡¯ actions that suggest they have underestimated the dangers of the nation¡¯s tallest mountain.

¡°They are climbing on their own without listening (to warnings) and end up getting stranded,¡± said Sudo. ¡°The cost of rescuing them is enormous ¡ª I think that such fees should be borne by those stranded. It¡¯s their own responsibility.¡±

Currently, fees for rescue from mountains around the country are in most cases paid from tax revenue, and are free for those who have been rescued.

The situation has received heightened attention since an incident last month in which a Chinese university student studying in Japan had to be rescued from Mount Fuji twice in the span of a few days, after he went back to the mountain to retrieve his phone that he lost while being airlifted during his first rescue.

Sudo also said that such inexperienced climbers have little regard for the grave danger rescue teams put themselves in to save those stranded irrespective of circumstances on the 3,776 meter-tall mountain, where conditions during the offseason can be incredibly risky.

On the Yamanashi Prefecture side of Mount Fuji, Shigeru Horiuchi, mayor of the city of Fujiyoshida, agreed, saying at a news conference Tuesday that the cost of flying a helicopter for a rescue can be up to between ?600,000 and ?800,000.

¡°With the convenience of smartphones, I feel that there is an increasing tendency for people to call for help casually as if they were calling for a cab when they are stranded,¡± said Horiuchi. ¡°As a way to warn climbers to not climb with naive assumptions, we should charge the rescue fees.¡±

The climbing season for Mount Fuji is between July and the beginning of September. During the offseason, the temperature can drop to well below freezing and the weather can change suddenly, factors many inexperienced climbers tend to underestimate before going in ill-prepared.

On Tuesday, Shizuoka Prefecture Gov. Yasutomo Suzuki said that although this is a problem for Mount Fuji, similar cases are seen across the country. Given that free rescue in the event of a disaster is assured under the law, he urged the national government to assess the issue.