Last week I took a few days off to drive to Nagoya for some sightseeing. Since I was passing by the Mt. Fuji region in Shizuoka and Yamanashi Prefectures, I planned some extra days to take in some breathtaking views of the mountain, especially since there’s a new season of Yuru Camp coming. Let’s explore our collective fascination with Mt. Fuji in this blog post!
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Yuru Camp is a chill and relaxing anime about cute girls experiencing the joys of camping in the winter. The anime is set in Yamanashi Prefecture, where the manga artist grew up, and in each episode, the girls visit campsites in the area with beautiful views of Mt. Fuji. Best of all, these places are all real, and you can visit them on your next visit to Japan.
Of course, the weather is always perfect in anime, whereas in the real world, clouds can decide they want to hide the mountain from you. I was lucky to get a few photos before the clouds covered Mt. Fuji completely that day.
Why Foreigners Love Mt. Fuji
Mt. Fuji is Japan’s tallest mountain, at 3,776 meters, or 12,388 feet. It’s 90 km / 56 miles from Tokyo, and if the weather is clear, you can often glimpse the mountain from tall buildings in the city. It’s an active volcano that last erupted in 1707.
I’m fascinated by the idea that whenever we visit Japan, we’re following in the footsteps of millions of people who have come before us, including some really famous names. When we feel excitement at catching our first glimpse of Mt. Fuji, or visit the floating Torii Arch in Miyajima, or have trouble putting on our yukata while feeding the deer in Nara, we’re doing exactly what Albert Einstein did when he visited Japan in 1922.
What did Albert Einstein find when he visited Japan 100 years ago? Read my blog post!
Who was the first Westerner to view Mt. Fuji? I’m positive it was William Adams, the English navigator who came to Japan and became the first Western samurai, and an advisor to Ieyasu Tokugawa. These historical events are depicted in the outstanding Shogun remake on Hulu or Disney+, which I highly recommend. Although no mention of Mt. Fuji survives in his letters, Adams did visit the Great Buddha statue in Kamakura, an area with many excellent views of the mountain. The first documented Westerner to climb the mountain was British diplomat Sir Alcock, who climbed the mountain in 1860.
Why are foreigners so fascinated with Mt. Fuji? It certainly is an iconic landmark, instantly recognizable to everyone in the world. While my own country of America has many beautiful places to visit, there isn’t any single place as legendary as Mt. Fuji. Any day I can catch a view of the mountain is a good day, in my mind.
Always Say Fuji-san, Never Fuji-yama
All Japanese kanji characters have two readings: Japanese and Chinese. The Japanese reading is usually used for single-character words like 水 mizu (water) or 道 michi (road). When you combine the characters to express more advanced concepts, you use the Chinese reading, for example 水道, suidou (a water pipe). There’s often a lot of flexibility over which pronunciation to use, especially for kanji in place names.
In Japanese, Mt. Fuji (富士山) is always called Fuji-san, using the Chinese pronunciation of the 山 character, never Fuji-yama. Calling Mt. Fuji “Fuji-yama” isn’t wrong, but it’s become a kind of faux-pas for gaijin to say this. It kind of marks us as someone who doesn’t know much about Japan, as reflected in the hilarious song Funk Fujiyama by a band called Kome Kome Club. The same goes for pronouncing sake as “saki” or saying cha-dou for tea ceremony. The correct pronunciations are sa-kay and sa-dou.
Thanks for reading this blog post about visiting anime holy land sites, and the undying allure of Mt. Fuji. Have you visited the mountain, or would you like to someday? Tell us in the comments below!
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