Mount Fuji

This is a picture of Mount Fuji I took in 2005, while on the Bullet Train, or shinkansen (新幹線) leaving Kyoto:

Of course, as most people know, Mount Fuji is the largest mountain in Japan.* In Japanese the mountain is called fuji-san (富士山), which confused me at first because I thought they were saying “Mr. Fuji”. But the kanji 山 can be pronounced as either yama (the kun-yomi) or san (the borrowed, Chinese on-yomi).

If you ride the Bullet Train from Yokohama to Kyoto, you’ll pass along Mt. Fuji for some time, as we did here, so be sure to catch a picture. If you look carefully at this one, you can barely see telephone poles flying by. The train is extremely smooth and quiet, so you don’t know you’re going this fast until you look out the window. Awesome! Tickets on the Bullet Train are pretty expensive, so be prepared, but the ride is very worth it.

Also, pick up a delicious eki-ben (駅弁) before you ride the train. Eki-ben, or “boxed lunch at the train station”, are surprisingly good, and there’s lots of variety for a decent price. I got a Chinese-style one, or chūkafū (中華風), which had pot-stickers and other delicious goodies. Other ones included various Japanese dishes and I think some more Westernized ones too, but it’s been a few years, so I can’t recall well.

I’ve also barely seen Mount Fuji at a distance when I visited Hakone in 2005, which is a small mountain resort village in Kanagawa Prefecture (where my wife’s family lives). Hakone is a wonderful place all by itself, if you get a chance to visit, with its hot springs, “black eggs” and the lake nearby. I should dig out those pictures as well. :p

* – The second highest, by the way, is Mount Kitadake. Very few people actually know that one, both in Japan and outside of Japan, so remember that at the next party and you’ll be sure to impress the ladies (or men)!