A body that was discovered last month on Mount Fuji has been confirmed to be that of a 47-year-old man from Tokyo who was livestreaming himself when he fell from the snow-capped summit.
Tetsu Shiohara, who died from injuries sustained in the fall, was using the Niconico livestreaming service, officers from the Gotenba Police Station in Shizuoka Prefecture said Tuesday. The rescuers discovered the body on Oct. 30 near the seventh station on the Subashiri trail of Mount Fuji, at an altitude of around 3,000 meters.
The police were contacted by people who saw Shiohara's livestream on Oct. 28, and believe he was climbing the mountain alone.
The footage on Niconico showed him on top of Mount Fuji, saying his hands were numb from the cold and that he wished he had brought disposable heat packs. He said the trail near the top of the mountain was slippery and covered with snow. He then suddenly started sliding down what he had described as about a 30 degree slope, feet first with what looked like a hiking pole, in an accelerating descent, before the video came to a stop.
Climbing the tallest mountain in Japan from the fifth station to the summit is allowed from early July to Sept. 10. During other periods the trails and huts are closed, and climbing the mountain is prohibited in principle as it is "very dangerous," the official website for Mount Fuji climbing warns.