Mount Fuji

My friend's family has a cottage in Yamanashi, near Yamanaka lake, which is quite close to Mount Fuji. A few of us from work went up there last weekend. The weather was good, and the best part was that there was really nothing to do except eat, drink, talk, listen to music, and go for little walks. Oh, we also went to a really nice hot spring resort, which we got into for half-price. It was a very, very relaxing weekend!

It may seem really stupid to say, but Fuji is really, really big. Unlike most other mountains, where there are foothills or something getting in the way, Fuji is a big volcanic cone rising up out of flat land all around. When we were driving up, most of it was obscured by clouds and haze. But at one point, my friend said, "Oh, you can see the sides of Mt. Fuji!" I looked, and all I could see were what I took to be blue-gray cloud banks way up above the horizon; suddenly, I had this shift of perspective where I realized that those were the lower slopes of the mountain! The next morning, I woke up kind of early to go and take a picture before it got hazy again. When you finally see it, it dominates your entire field of view. It really is enormous. This picture can't do it justice, because you don't get a sense of how far away the mountain is. It looks like a small mountain that's kind of close, I think. But I just kept thinking, "That thing is 7 times taller than the CN Tower..."


It was the first time I'd ever really seen Fuji (not counting seeing it from the train or from a plane). I was quite impressed.

Last but not least, some huge thistle-looking flowers. It's really nice weather here, finally. It has cooled down, but it has been sunny and clear for a few days. We usually get typhoons in the fall, so I will try to enjoy the sun while I can.