Cherry Blossom Festival cancelled in Japanese city for overtourism fears
Fears around overcrowding and poor behaviour from tourists have prompted one Japanese city to cancel a planned Cherry Blossom Festival. The authorities of Fujiyoshida in Yamanashi prefecture announced that it will not be staging the annual Arakurayama Sengen Park Cherry Blossom Festival this year.
The festival had been running for over a decade and can draw as much as 200,000 visitors who come to photograph Mount Fuji framed by blooming cherry blossoms and a five-storey pagoda. But with a surge in the number of tourists in recent years, as many as 10,000 people a day, the small community says it can no longer manage the large numbers.
Japan saw a record number of tourists in 2025, seeing over 40 million people visiting for the first time.
Representatives of Fujiyoshida highlighted an increasing list of complaints from residents as being the reason for the cancellation of the Cherry Blossom Festival, adding that nuisance behaviour had affected the daily lives of residents. Sanitation was among the main problem, with some visitors even visiting locals’ homes to use toilets, or relieving themselves in people’s gardens, and creating confrontations when challenged, Kyodo News reported.
Safety concerns have also been highlighted, especially by families living in the area. According to the city, parents have reported their children being pushed on school routes as large crowds descend on the narrow pavements for a perfect photo spot.
“I feel a deep sense of crisis as I witness the reality that, behind this beautiful scenery, the quiet lives of our citizens are being threatened,” Fujiyoshida mayor Shigeru Horiuchi said.
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