Kino Hiroaki, 48, who was taking still pictures of the climb, collapsed at Everest base camp on Thursday and was unable to be resuscitated, tourism ministry official Tilak Pandey told AFP.[break]
"His body was airlifted to Kathmandu on Friday," Pandey said. "We have learned that he died from cardiac failure."
Tikaram Gurung, of Bochi Bochi Trek, the agency which organised the expedition, said Kino was part of a five-member film crew.
"There were three climbers and the filming team was assigned to make a documentary on the Everest expedition.
"The 48-year-old photographer suddenly fainted in the base camp on Thursday afternoon and died within a span of 10 to 15 minutes."
His family is expected to arrive in Nepal on Sunday to take his body back to Japan.
The death is the latest in a spate of fatalities involving Japanese trekking expeditions in the Himalayas.
A 63-year-old Japanese woman and her Nepalese guide were swept to their deaths by an avalanche in June as they scaled the 5,844-metre (19,172 feet) Naya Kanga peak, 30 kilometres (18 miles) north of Kathmandu.
Another Japanese, Takashi Ozaki, died on May 12 while attempting to scale Everest, the world´s tallest peak at 8,848-metres (29,028 feet).
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