Mt Fuji - The highest mountain in Japan, Mt.Fuji-san, is 3776-metres high. Once a sacred mountain, Mt Fuji appeared in the present form about 10,000 years ago.
More than 300,000 people climb to the top of Mt.Fuji in a year. 30% of them are foreigners. The first foreigner to climb Mount Fuji was Sir Rutherford Alcock, the British consul, who struggled up its slope in July 1860. Now quietly dormant, not extinct, Fuji was at one time very active. The last eruption occurred in 1707 and covered Tokyo, 100 km distant, with a thick blanket of ash. During WW II, the U.S. Air Force even considered bombing Fuji back into activity, but thankfully this harebrained scheme (and I make no comment,as I would like to..... LOL, to Americans) was never implemented.
Mt Fuji, along with the ensign of the red Rising Sun on a field of white, is the national emblem, the symbol of Nippon. If the Japanese could travel to only once place in their lifetime, most would choose Mount Fuji and really.... why wouldn't you, its lovely!
"He who has not climbed Mt. Fuji is a fool, he who has climbed it twice is a greater fool"
Hakone - is the hot-springs area nearest Tokyo, about 2 hours away by train. Scattered about in the mountains are the famous Twelve Spas of Hakone, the oldest of which is Yumoto and the most popular of which is probably Miyanoshita. The area lies in the crater of what must have been an enormous volcano - hence all the hot water - which no doubt rivaled and perhaps dwarfed the immaculate Mt Fuji, located right next door to this resort area.
The Hakone national park has many places of historic interest and there is something for everyone with both amusement facilities and many museum. |
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