Weston and Edward Bramwell Clarke are the westerners identified with the emergence of mountain climbing as a new sport in Japan. By the end of Weston's life, some British climbers referred to him as ‘the father of mountaineering in Japan'. In 1937, Emperor Hirohito conferred on him the Japanese Order of the Sacred Treasures (fourth class) and the Japanese Alpine Club erected a bronze tablet in his honour at Kamikōchi in the Japanese Alps.