Father leaves seven-year-old son alone on Mount Fuji for hours

The boy was found sitting on a bench 2000 metres up Japan’s highest mountain in fog and rain.

The boy was found sitting on a bench 2000 metres up Japan’s highest mountain in fog and rain.

The child, from Nagoya, was found alone sitting on a bench by a trail on Mount Fuji in fog and rain on Thursday and taken into police custody, local police said.

Officers tracked the father down at the mountain's eighth station, roughly a three-hour hike higher up, and ordered him to return.

A father has been reprimanded by police after leaving his son on Japan's highest mountain for several hours with just a soft drink and snack.

The man had taken his two boys on the trip but is said to have left one behind when he got tired.

Boy, 7, left alone on Mount Fuji after his father decided to continue hike without him  GB News

Police officers gave the man a telling-off for leaving the child behind.

A man left his seven-year-old son behind for hours on Japan’s Mt. Fuji while continuing the climb, resulting in a stern warning from authorities, police and local media reported.

The boy was found alone on a hiking route on Thursday and taken into police custody, a local police officer in Shizuoka Prefecture said Saturday.

Emily Bashforth | Live News reporter Published August 21, 2026 5:35pm Updated August 21, 2026 5:35pm A schoolboy’s father was scolded by police after abandoning him on Mount Fuji (Picture: Richard A. Brooks/AFP via Getty Images) ‘Wait here,’ is what a dad told his seven-year-old son before leaving him alone on Mount Fu

A seven-year-old boy was allegedly left behind by his father while climbing Mount Fuji, Japan's highest summit

Father leaves 7-year-old son alone on Mount Fuji and tells him to wait eight hours  MARCA