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富士山 · Mount fuji

Hakone: The Checkpoint That Ran Japan for 250 Years History
11 min read

Hakone: The Checkpoint That Ran Japan for 250 Years

Japan's key highway checkpoint ran here for 250 years — longer than the US has existed. Same mountain pass: active volcano, finest onsen, Fuji views. One hour from Tokyo.

Chureito Pagoda: The Most Photographed View of Mount Fuji Is a War Memorial Built in 1962 History
12 min read

Chureito Pagoda: The Most Photographed View of Mount Fuji Is a War Memorial Built in 1962

The vermillion five-story pagoda framing Mount Fuji is on every Japan postcard and Lonely Planet cover. Almost nobody knows it was built in 1962 as a war memorial — or that the famous viewpoint is exactly 398 steps from a small parking lot in Fujiyoshida. Here is everything you need to actually visit.

Mount Fuji in Art: Why the Most Painted Mountain in Human History Has Been Drawn the Same Way for 300 Years Culture
17 min read In-depth

Mount Fuji in Art: Why the Most Painted Mountain in Human History Has Been Drawn the Same Way for 300 Years

Hokusai's Great Wave is the most reproduced image in the history of art — and the small mountain in the background is the same Mount Fuji you can still see from Tokyo. A guide to Hokusai's Thirty-Six Views, Hiroshige's Tōkaidō road, and Kawase Hasui's quiet revival — and what three centuries of artists kept seeing in the same triangular silhouette.

Mount Fuji's Five Lakes: One Eruption, One Broken Lake, Five Reflections of the Same Volcano History
14 min read

Mount Fuji's Five Lakes: One Eruption, One Broken Lake, Five Reflections of the Same Volcano

Twelve hundred years ago, a single eruption from Mount Fuji split one large lake into five. Those five lakes — Kawaguchiko, Yamanakako, Saiko, Shōjiko, Motosuko — are now Japan's most photographed view of the volcano. Here's which one to visit, what each one shows you, and the story behind why they exist.

Is Mount Fuji Still an Active Volcano? Yes — Here's What Happened in 1707, and What Scientists Are Watching For Next History
15 min read

Is Mount Fuji Still an Active Volcano? Yes — Here's What Happened in 1707, and What Scientists Are Watching For Next

Mount Fuji is officially classified as an active volcano by the Japan Meteorological Agency. It last erupted in 1707 — covering Edo (modern Tokyo) with ash for two weeks — and is now monitored more closely than almost any volcano on Earth. Here's the full 2.6-million-year eruption history, why it is really three volcanoes stacked into one, and what scientists are watching for today.