A father has been reprimanded by police after leaving his seven-year-old son on Mount Fuji for several hours while he continued a hike, local media reported.

The boy was reported to have been spotted sitting on a bench near the mountain in fog and rain, at an elevation of more than 2,000m (6,500ft), according to reports. Officers later found him alone after staff from a mountain hut alerted police.

Boy Found After Police Were Alerted

Hikers from a mountain hut near the route to the summit found the child close to the sixth station of the climbing path, police said, and contacted authorities. Officers then traced the father at the route’s eighth station, which was described in reports as a roughly three-hour walk higher up from where the boy was located.

The child was found by police at 07:30 local time on Thursday, which corresponds to 22:30 GMT, the reports added.

Police Criticised The Decision

When the father returned from the higher point and reunited with his son, officers reprimanded him, local coverage said. One officer told him that even if it meant abandoning the attempt to climb together, leaving a child behind was unacceptable, according to Japan Today.

The father later apologised for the decision, which was described as “rash” in the report.

Route Timing And Access Points

The family was reported to have been climbing on the Fujinomiya route. That path begins at the fifth station, a starting point that is accessible by public transport.

Reports and climbing guidance cited in the coverage said the journey from the fifth station to the summit typically takes around five hours, with a further three hours needed to descend.

Mount Fuji’s Ongoing Climbing Risks

Mount Fuji rises to 3,776m (12,389ft) and has seen multiple incidents in recent years. In July, a 99-year-old woman required rescue after falling while attempting the route and injuring her hip and back. Last year, a 27-year-old university student who climbed outside the official season was rescued twice within four days after returning to look for a lost mobile phone.

The active volcano, located south-west of Tokyo, was added to the World Heritage list in 2013. It is also one of Japan’s three traditional “Holy Mountains”, along with Mount Tate and Mount Haku.

Around 200,000 people climb Mount Fuji each year. Some routes also operate daily caps to help prevent overcrowding.

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22 August 2026

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Un*******believeable

I 'lost' one of my kids in a Dutch shopping centre for 30/40 minutes........the worst 30/40 minutes of my life.........I still have nightmares now 40 years later.

I can well understand how dreadful this was for you. I had a similar experience when I lost my grand daughter in a leisure centre in the UK, thankfully returned to me by a security guard after 30 minutes. The difference between what happened to us, and what happened in this case, is that the father deliberately left his young son alone.

On 8/22/2026 at 6:10 PM, webfact said:

A father

A 48-year-old father from Japan.

On 8/22/2026 at 6:51 PM, MIke B Bad said:

Un*******believeable

I 'lost' one of my kids in a Dutch shopping centre for 30/40 minutes........the worst 30/40 minutes of my life.........I still have nightmares now 40 years later.

I lost track of two of my children at a park in Texas for a few minutes and I was freaking out, running around asking others if they saw them, until I saw them both on a slide together. I won't leave my 9 year old daughter here alone for any time. Too many weirdos worldwide, especially in a country huge with trafficking.

With 200,000 hikers per year, the boy was hardly "alone".

Who abandoned whom?

Did the son abandon the Father or vice versa?

My brother was a semiprofessional athlete who competed in races, sometimes for money and prizes.

We hiked together up a 12,000' mountain that takes 5 hours to summit and come back down.

He couldn't do it, so I continued without him.

He waited in the car for 3+ hours before I made it back

I was older than him, definitely not an athlete.

Why did I do it, but he could not?

I don't see anything wrong here except for the poor attitude of quiters, who never win. 😲

1 hour ago, fredwiggy said:

I lost track of two of my children at a park in Texas for a few minutes and I was freaking out, running around asking others if they saw them, until I saw them both on a slide together. I won't leave my 9 year old daughter here alone for any time. Too many weirdos worldwide, especially in a country huge with trafficking.

I know in my head the dangers are totally overblown.......but oh boy, was I scared.

Freaky fact....the woman who found by boy and took him to reception was also our waitress that night!!!!!..........I almost tipped her.

With six kids, my parents often employed the buddy system when we were out somewhere, with the 3 older kids given one younger kid to keep an eye on. That didn't stop the family from leaving me behind in a store on a shopping outing to Portland when we were stationed in Hermiston, Oregon.

I was about 5 and I remember, after it finally dawned on me that I hadn't seen any of my family for sometime, wandering around the store for quite awhile looking for them, always thinking they were still in the store but I was just missing them--they were on one aisle and I was on another. I finally gave up looking for them and went back to the model car aisle--which was a big interest for me at the time. They finally found me an hour or two later after retracing all the stores they had been shopping in.

We also lost my younger brother in Hawaii when we were walking on the street near Waikiki Beach. Once again, the buddy system failed--likely my rather irresponsible older sister Betty dropped the ball--I think she was in charge of Ted. I can't remember how long he was lost but, luckily, a lady found Ted wandering by himself and returned him to us--after giving my parents a stern lecture. We both survived.

5 hours ago, SiSePuede419 said:

With 200,000 hikers per year, the boy was hardly "alone".

Who abandoned whom?

Did the son abandon the Father or vice versa?

My brother was a semiprofessional athlete who competed in races, sometimes for money and prizes.

We hiked together up a 12,000' mountain that takes 5 hours to summit and come back down.

He couldn't do it, so I continued without him.

He waited in the car for 3+ hours before I made it back

I was older than him, definitely not an athlete.

Why did I do it, but he could not?

I don't see anything wrong here except for the poor attitude of quiters, who never win. 😲

If you can't see the difference then you must be of very low intelligence. Leaving a CHILD behind on a mountain ( or anywhere else for that matter) is in my opinion a criminal offence.