Are you experienced?

Our obsession with 'experiences' is turning the entire globe into an infinite, if rather lame, photo opportunity

Peter Edgerton

Friday, 21 March 2025, 10:36

To the horror of newsreaders everywhere, the town of Fujikawaguchiko in Japan made the headlines recently owing to the fact that the authorities there had put up a strategically-placed, 2.5 metre-high black screen to deter masses of tourists from taking selfies with Mount Fuji as the backdrop. Unfortunately, within days, the screen had become riddled with camera-sized holes until it was unceremoniously taken down again shortly thereafter, with officials mumbling something about the tourists having learned their lesson and that the same problem wouldn't reoccur. They haven't and it will.

Meanwhile, with regard to Mount Fuji itself, a limit on numbers and an access fee have been introduced in a bid to quell the hoardes of people descending on the sacred site in order to bullet climb (ascending through the night without sufficient rest) and litter the place with energy drink cans and Quaver packets. Inadequate clothing is also a problem, with witnesses recounting instances of climbers sporting - amongst other sartorial delights - Crocs and jeans in order to embark on their newfound outdoor adventure.

"Morning love, what do you think we should do today?"

"Dunno. I thought maybe we could put our onesies and flip-flops on and leg it up Mount Fuji through the night with no rest? Waddyathink?"

I exaggerate, of course. Not much, though. Our obsession with 'experiences' is turning the entire globe into an infinite, if rather lame, photo opportunity. The other night, as a Paris St. Germain player stepped up to take a crucial Champions League penalty against Liverpool, my attention was fixed, not on the sporting drama unfolding on the pitch, but rather on the men in the crowd behind the goal squinting into their phones taking photos or videos of the moment and thus, surely, missing the whole point of being there.

Maybe I'm wrong. Maybe, on their death beds, all of these people will be able to scroll through a lifetime of memories, basking in the warm glow of having ticked off a bucket list as long as the river Amazon which was, coincidentally, number eighty six on the list in question.

The thing is, professional photographers and film-makers have managed to capture the imperious beauty of Mount Fuji on many occasions down the years and, I suspect, watching a documentary on the subject would be a much more moving experience than chomping on a salmon paste sandwich in a cagoule halfway up the mountain itself.

A bucket list of documentaries - now that's an idea.

www.peteredgerton.com

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