A View From Afar, A View From the Summit: Insider Tips on a Mt. Fuji Climb

A year have passed since Mount Fuji was designated as UNESCO's World Cultural Heritage Site, and another climbing season begins on July 1.I love Mount Fuji and have climbed to the top or driven to the Fuji Subaru Line 5th station. But actually we cannot look out the overall view of Mount Fuji when we climb it. So I would like to recommend all international tourist to get around the foot of Mount Fuji in order to view a beautiful panorama from a distance.Recently DeepJapan published a e-book "Mt. Fuji Travel Guide". I would like to pick up here some superb view spots here.

If you want to make a short trip around Mount Fuji （富士山）, designated as a world cultural heritage site in 2013, the first place you need to aim for is Mt. Fuji Station （富士山駅） or Kawaguchiko Station （河口湖駅） , which are major gateways for magical Mt. Fuji and the magnificent Fuji Five Lakes area （富士五湖）. You can take a expressway bus （高速バス） or JR Chuo Line （中央線） and Fujikyuko Line （富士急行）. Both bus and trains depart from Shinjuku Station （新宿駅） in Tokyo. After reaching Mt. Fuji Station or Kawaguchiko Station, you can progress up the mountain to the Mount Fuji 5h Station （富士山五合目） via Local buses （バス） leaving from just outside the station exit.

Mt. Fuji, as most of us know, is the highest peak in Japan, standing at 3,776 m (12,388 ft) and it is a very popular tourist destination, with an estimated 320,000 climbers scaling the mountain during the two month summer season (from July 1st to August 31st) annually. The mountain's new new status as an UNESCO (United National Education, Scientific and Cultural Organization) World Heritage site will certainly mean that number will increase in coming years. There are several paths climbers can take to the summit, and most of the trails start at one of the 4 "5th stations" which are positioned roughly halfway up the mountain, and these stations are also the highest point one can access by car.

"Seen from Gotenba City right at the base of Mt. Fuji, the Mountain looks even bigger and because of that Gotenba City is the popular sight-seeing spot. Gotenba Premium Outlets were opened in this popular city and it has been attracting more visitors from both within and outside Japan.

For those who are not determined yet to climb up the high Mt. Fuji on foot, I would like to recommend Gotenba Premium Outlets for Mt. Fuji viewing as well as a day of great shopping. A free shuttle bus operates between the mall and JR Mishima Station (bullet train station)."

I wanted to climb Mt. Fuji from the first time I saw it up close. And although it was a beautiful sight, I would have been content to just view it from afar. Seeing Mt. Fuji’s beauty up close was not the reason I wanted to climb to the top. My first visit was to the fifth step in early May of 2011 with my good friend Makato Seki. I was definitely impressed by the mountain’s majesty—its peak still shrouded in snow—but I didn’t really have the desire to get to the top just then. But the thought crossed my mind and I asked Seki-san if he ever made it to the top. He said no. For some unknown reason I blurted out that I was going to climb to the top one day.