Undeterred by drizzling rain, 60 students from the Tohoku region scaled Japan’s highest peak on July 22 in a project to support youths in the areas hit by last year’s disasters.
Undeterred by drizzling rain, 60 students from the Tohoku region scaled Japan’s highest peak on July 22 in a project to support youths in the areas hit by last year’s disasters.The high school students started from the fifth station on Yoshida Trail at 5 a.m. and spent six hours and 40 minutes reaching the 3,776-meter peak of Mount Fuji.They were joined by 29 high school students from Fuji-Yoshida, Yamanashi Prefecture, at the foot of the mountain.“It’s fun,” said Takahiro Saito, 16, who has evacuated from Namie, Fukushima Prefecture, to Iwaki, in the same prefecture, due to the accident at the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant. “I’m glad I came.”The project was proposed by noted mountaineer Junko Tabei, who said she wanted to encourage youths who will bear the burden of rebuilding after the earthquake to have “confidence and courage.”It was organized by the Himalayan Adventure Trust of Japan, headed by Tabei, and supported by The Asahi Shimbun and other organizations.