A Japanese hot spring town popular for its photogenic snowy scenes began limiting entry to day-trippers on Monday in a trial to tackle overtourism during winter.
Ginzan Onsen, a remote town in northern Yamagata region, draws around 330,000 visitors each year.
Many share photos online of its old-fashioned buildings blanketed in snow and illuminated by lamplight that create a nostalgic atmosphere.
However, authorities in Ginzan Onsen, as in more famous destinations such as Kyoto and Mount Fuji, have become fed up with a rise in road problems, quarrels and other nuisances.
From Monday, only people staying at local hotels will be allowed to enter the town after 8 pm, while those wishing to visit between 5 pm and 8 pm will need a reservation.
Japan has seen a record influx of foreign tourists this year as the weak yen swells a post-pandemic travel boom.
“Traffic jams have sometimes been caused by cars getting stuck in the snow, because travellers were driving with normal tyres” instead of with snow tyres, said Takayuki Saito, head of commerce and tourism for the municipality of Obanazawa, where the town is located.
“We’ve also heard of cases of emergency vehicles not being able to reach” Ginzan Onsen due to congestion, Saito told AFP.
Driving there “can be dangerous with poor visibility in snowstorms” in winter, he said.
Until the end of February, day-trippers will be asked to park at a tourism centre two kilometres (1.2 miles) away and pay for a shuttle bus.
The official website for Ginzan Onsen said the trial had been launched after years of debate, adding that authorities were hoping to maintain a good relationship with visitors.
When heavy traffic recently stopped an ambulance, “an emergency service team made it to the scene by running, but it was truly a life-and-death situation,” the site said.
“Some visitors are verbally abusive” when officials come to help cars stuck in snow, according to the site, which it described as “unbearable”.
More than 33 million foreign visitors have entered Japan so far this year, breaking 2019’s full-year record of nearly 32 million.
Locals in Japan’s ancient capital Kyoto have complained of tourists harassing the city’s famed geisha and decided to ban visitors from entering private alleys.
Authorities have also introduced an entry fee and daily cap on numbers on Mount Fuji’s most popular trail, while barriers were installed outside a convenience store nearby to stop crowds of snap-happy visitors getting injured on the road.