Thursday, November 4, 2010
Won't Miss #251 - paying for emergency rescue and searches
If you are the adventurous sort and want to go around climbing Mt. Fuji or any of the other famous natural areas that people are prone to hike around in Japan, you'd better hope you don't trip and fall into a ravine for more than one reason. Besides the obvious pain, suffering (and potential death), your family or you will be on the hook for the cost of any search and rescue expenses. Any manpower, helicopters, or vehicles employed in finding you will be put on an extremely hefty tab and presented to you or your kin (in the event of your untimely demise). Many Japanese folks are already aware of this and there is money to be had in selling insurance to hikers. I'm guessing, incidentally, that things like falling into a river or lake or getting lost in the woods while camping would also fall under the same heading as hiking or mountaineering accidents and these situations would also incur millions of yen in costs.
I won't miss this cold and rather mercenary approach to expenses related to such accidents.
Labels:
accidents,
hiking,
insurance,
mountains,
won't miss