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Japan's Mount Fuji will become World Heritage Site in June. United Nations (U.N.) decided on April 30th to give famous mountain UNESCO World Heritage status. U.N. team that made decision said Fuji was very important to Japanese religion and art. They also said that 3,776-meter-high volcano was important outside of Japan too. Fuji-san (as Japanese people call it) has been sacred mountain for more than 1,000 years. Priests say that when you climb it, you move from "everyday world" at bottom, to "world of gods, Buddha and death" at top. They believe people can wash away their sins by climbing to top and coming back down again.

Mount Fuji is major tourist destination. It is very popular with hikers, who want to see rising sun from its peak. More than 318,000 hikers visited mountain last summer, with up to 15,000 people climbing each day. Local residents are now worried World Heritage status will mean more visitors. That means there will be more litter and environmental problems. local government may ask people to pay to climb mountain to help preserve its beauty. Governor Shomei Yokouchi said: “It’s likely we’ll ask mountain climbers to help financially with keeping mountain clean." Another idea being talked about is to limit daily number of hikers allowed to top.