Panel set up to protect Mt. Fuji environment

Panel set up to protect Mt. Fuji environment

SHIZUOKA, Japan - Shizuoka and Yamanashi governors Heita Kawakatsu (5th from R) and Shomei Yokouchi in Numazu, Shizuoka Prefecture, (6th from R) celebrate the establishment of a council on June 22, 2014, to protect the environment of Mt. Fuji, a World Cultural Heritage site.

Yamanashi Gov. Yokouchi shakes hands with Hello Kitty

Yamanashi Gov. Yokouchi shakes hands with Hello Kitty

KOFU, Japan - Yamanashi Gov. Shomei Yokouchi (L) shakes hands with Sanrio Co.'s Hello Kitty character in the prefectural capital of Kofu, Japan, on Jan. 7, 2015. The Yamanashi prefectural government designated Hello Kitty as "Yamanashi Kanko (tourism) Navigator" on the day to lure more tourists to the central Japan prefecture.

Plans formalized for Mt. Fuji admission fee

Plans formalized for Mt. Fuji admission fee

TOKYO, Japan - Heita Kawakatsu (R), governor of Shizuoka Prefecture, and Shomei Yokouchi, governor of Yamanashi Prefecture, meet the press in Shizuoka's Fujinomiya on Jan. 22, 2014, after the two local governments officially adopted plans to set a voluntary 1,000 yen admission fee for climbers of Mt. Fuji, starting in the summer of 2014.

UNESCO formally names Mt. Fuji as World Heritage site

UNESCO formally names Mt. Fuji as World Heritage site

PHNOM PENH, Cambodia - (From L to R) Shizuoka Gov. Heita Kawakatsu, Yamanashi Gov. Shomei Yokouchi, Seiichi Kondo, commissioner for cultural affairs, and Isao Kiso, permanent delegate of Japan to UNESCO, put their hands together in Phnom Penh on June 22, 2013, after the World Heritage Committee of UNESCO decided to inscribe Mt. Fuji on the U.N. agency's prestigious World Heritage List at a conference held in the Cambodian capital.

Photographer Tomatsu dies

Photographer Tomatsu dies

TOKYO, Japan - File photo taken in 2009 shows Shomei Tomatsu, a Japanese photographer famous for subjects such as atomic-bomb survivors in Nagasaki and postwar scenes in U.S.-occupied Okinawa Prefecture. Tomatsu died on Dec. 14, 2012, of pneumonia at a hospital in Okinawa's capital Naha. He was 82.

Singer Joe Yamanaka dies

Singer Joe Yamanaka dies

TOKYO, Japan - File photo shows singer Joe Yamanaka singing the theme song of the 1977 Japanese movie ''Ningen no Shomei'' (Proof of the Man) during the recording of its soundtrack in Roppongi, Tokyo, in July 1977. Yamanaka died of lung cancer on Aug. 7, 2011 at age 64.

Yokouchi wins Yamanashi election

Yokouchi wins Yamanashi election

KOFU, Japan - Shomei Yokouchi, former Liberal Democratic Party member in the House of Representatives, responds to supporters as it became clear he was victorious in the gubernatorial election in Yamanashi Prefecture on Jan. 21.

Yokouchi wins Yamanashi election

Yokouchi wins Yamanashi election

KOFU, Japan - Shomei Yokouchi, former Liberal Democratic Party member in the House of Representatives, responds to supporters as it became clear he was victorious in the gubernatorial election in Yamanashi Prefecture on Jan. 21. (Kyodo)

Singer Joe Yamanaka dies

Singer Joe Yamanaka dies

TOKYO, Japan - File photo shows singer Joe Yamanaka singing the theme song of the 1977 Japanese movie ''Ningen no Shomei'' (Proof of the Man) during the recording of its soundtrack in Roppongi, Tokyo, in July 1977. Yamanaka died of lung cancer on Aug. 7, 2011 at age 64. (Kyodo)