At the end of August, a story appeared in the media and on social networks about an adventurous courier who climbed to the top of Mount Fuji to deliver a pizza for a client. This story is allegedly supported by photographs. We checked the story for veracity.
On August 25, 2022, the Malaysian website World of Buzz reported that in Japan, a traveler placed an order with Domino’s Pizza right at the top of Mount Fuji and waited for it for several hours. They referred to a tweet by a user who posted a photo of the courier and wrote that the described event took place on August 20. The alleged courier was eventually found on the website of the Yamap app for tracking during mountaineering and travel. According to World of Buzz, the delivery man accepted the order at about 7:38 a.m. and handed it over to the customer after five hours of walking. The pizza itself allegedly cost 3,776 yen (about 1,600 rubles at the time), and delivery cost 40,000 yen (about 17,000 rubles).
Many Russian-language resources also wrote about the incredible courier (often with a link to World of Buzz), but they also added new details. For example, the Komsomolskaya Pravda newspaper website reported that “onlookers looked at the pizzeria’s website” and confirmed that the courier actually worked there, since they were able to recognize him in one of the photos posted there. According to Komsomolskaya Pravda, the pizza was delivered at noon. The Gazeta.ru and 360° TV channels wrote that the pizza was already cold, and added that the courier refused to comment, but the pizzeria allegedly noted that they are happy to have any customers and try to please everyone. These publications cited an eyewitness to the events, according to whom the delivery, which cost $962 (about 57,000 rubles), took five hours. In addition, Gazeta.ru noted that “the climber happily had a snack and continued his climb,” but it is unclear where, since he was already at the top of the mountain. Rossiyskaya Gazeta indicated that the courier spent six hours on the delivery.
There were other sites that reported on this unusual delivery, including Radio Sputnik, TJournal, DTF, IA Krasnaya Vesna, Ridus, Ostrovok, as well as Pikabu, Yaplakal and JoyReactor. The story also spread across social networks: for example, in the Just art public, a post about pizza delivery to the mountain collected 1,800 likes and 134,000 views.
To begin with, it should be noted that absolutely all of the above-mentioned resources were wrong about the estimated delivery time. The Yamap website does indeed have a page for a man named Umanami Futoshi, who climbed to the top of Mount Fujiyama on August 20 wearing a Domino’s Pizza delivery uniform. According to the resource, the entire journey took Futoshi 5 hours 49 minutes (including a 50-minute rest period), or almost six hours. This time includes both the ascent to the summit and the return descent. In total, the man walked 8 km, starting his journey at 7:38 am at an altitude of just under 2,400 m (as evidenced by one of the first photographs). Futoshi reached the summit (Kengamine Peak, 3,776 m) at 10:51 am, and returned to the starting point of his hike at 1:27 pm. This means that it took him 3 hours and 13 minutes to reach the summit (during which time he climbed almost 1400 m).
Let’s say the media simply made a mistake in their calculations. And what about the story itself? Does it mean that the courier really delivered the pizza to the mountain? It’s not that simple.
If you look closely at Futoshi’s Yamap account, you’ll notice some interesting details. There are currently three other entries about ascents that took place before August 20: July 2 – to Mount Oyama, July 23 – to Mount Daibosatsu, and August 6 – also to Fujiyama. A couple more entries have been deleted, but thanks to the web archive, you can find out that there were also ascents to Mount Tsukuba (June 25) and again to Fuji (July 29). By the way, after the 20th there were two entries, both also about Fuji: August 27 and September 3. Moreover, judging by the photo, the man always delivered some kind of food to the summit. For example, he brought pizza to Oyama in a Domino’s Pizza uniform, some food to Daibosatsu in an Uber Eats uniform, and went to Fujiyama in Demae-Can, Domino’s Pizza, Pizza-La suits, and even delivered sushi in a chef’s suit.
If we assume that this is some kind of professional courier working for several companies and specializing in food delivery to the mountains, then the amazing coincidences do not end there. For example, according to the pictures of the receipts, the cost of food delivered to Fujiyama, be it pizza or sushi, is always equal to the height of this mountain (3776 m). We were unable to find any information about the huge cost of delivery. On the contrary, the receipt allegedly from Domino’s Pizza had a 50% discount due to the long wait for delivery to Mount Oyama – then the pizza cost only 540 yen.
In addition, each of Futoshi’s ascents on the Yamap website has a funny description. Most often, at the beginning, the author writes that he made a mistake: mixed up the addresses, got confused with the maps, or couldn’t cope with the complexities of the Japanese language, and as a result, instead of the right address, he had to climb mountains. The texts always end the same way: “I will be the king of delivery!” And on July 2, he told how an old man saw him in a store by the road and was happy: “Hooray! They now deliver pizza to Oyama!” However, Futoshi immediately upset him: “Sorry, I’m not real.” In the description of his profile, it is indicated that he delivers “surprises and smiles.” The thing is that Umanami Futoshi is not a real courier. In fact, he is an office worker who loves to go to the mountains, cosplaying as delivery men. Instead of pizza and other food, his bag is filled with various equipment and essentials that can be useful on a hiking trip. On August 23, a short interview with this mountaineer-cosplayer was published on the TV Asahi television network website. Futoshi said that about a year ago he received a cooler bag from Uber Eats and then thought that it would be cool to climb Mount Fuji with it. After the positive reaction of people climbing the mountain with him, he decided to cosplay other delivery services.
Thus, despite the statements of Russian and foreign media, Futoshi does not work as a pizza delivery man and did not charge huge amounts of money for food delivery. Apparently, some of the materials are simply made up.
The publication “Reedus” is worth mentioning separately. In general, it describes the same story: a courier delivered a pizza to Mount Fuji in six hours, the food cost 3,776 yen, and the delivery cost 40,000. However, the material contains unrelated footage: it shows not Futoshi, but another person. At the same time, Reedus referred to the New York Post, which tells a similar, but still different story, and Futoshi is mentioned only in passing, without details. According to the NY Post, on August 16, a video appeared that captured a delivery man from the Indonesian company Gojek. This courier allegedly also brought food to Mount Fuji.
The video shows a man in a jacket with the Gojek logo handing the operator bags of food and then supposedly going down the mountain. However, upon closer examination of the tweet with the video, we found out that the courier himself posted the recording, since he owns the account, which is clear from numerous photos. From his earlier tweets, it is clear that the man in the video climbed Mount Fuji with several people, as evidenced by the photos and videos of his group, as well as a photo of the ticket. In addition, in replies and private messages, we asked him whether he works as a courier or just put on a delivery jacket for the sake of a funny video. He confirmed that it was just a joke.
