Overview
- Officials scrapped the 2026 Arakurayama Sengen Park event after complaints of trespassing, littering, break-ins and reports of tourists defecating in private yards.
- Residents also reported visitors entering homes to use bathrooms and children being jostled on crowded sidewalks on their way to school.
- Mayor Shigeru Horiuchi said the influx threatened citizens’ quiet lives and described a strong sense of crisis.
- The festival had run since 2016, drawing about 200,000 visitors annually, with recent daily peaks above 10,000 driven in part by social media.
- The move echoes wider efforts to curb overtourism, including a 2024 black net blocking a popular Mount Fuji view in nearby Fujikawaguchiko, as mass tourism policy features in national political debate ahead of Sunday’s election.