富士山Trip

Sustainable tourism in the Mount Fuji area

Welcome to 富士山Trip. This site is going to be a celebration. We celebrate Mount Fuji. The Mount Fuji area is a world class tourist destination and we are very happy about that. Even so, we also consider a number of problems related to the mountain and a few possible solutions. We suggest a reconsideration of the history of Mount Fuji pilgrimage as a way to a much better traveling experience. Consider these, for example:

Reasons for wear and tear

Pilgrimage rather than mass tourism

Neglected half of the mountain

Getting a deeper experience of the mountain

Exploitation

The fact is that Mount Fuji is suffering in many ways: overuse, wear and tear, failed garbage disposal policies, and so on. The mountain has been very narrowly exploited for profit in recent history, resulting in a situation in which too much of the tourist traffic is focused on the relatively boring, bald, barren top half of the mountain. While that situation has been developing over the past fifty years or so, not only do we have a cascade of environmental problems that threaten the sustainability of tourism in the area but tourists also continue to miss the true beauty and mystery of the area.

if we can help people to have really good value, really enjoyable and interesting experiences, we can probably spare some of the wear and tear related to the boring ripoff spots.

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Great Wave off Kanagawa. Photo. Katsushika Hokusai (葛飾北斎)
A mountain of two halves

We are going to learn about the history and geography of Fujisan. In addition, we are going to take a look at the places and people around the great volcano. The intention is to build a Fuji-centered information resource. Bearing that in mind, we have to be concerned about sustainable tourism to the area. We don’t want to kill the golden goose. So we are going to be particularly interested in focusing away from the poor-value tourist traps — which, in any case, tend to be pretty uninteresting. Mount Fuji has become a mountain of two halves. The neglected bottom half deserves far more attention.

This is a mountain that never looks the same twice. It should keep us busy.

 I hope you enjoy the content. We’re just getting started!

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A mountain of two halves. Our balcony when it snowed.

Featured image: full moon over a mountain landscape. Hiroshige. Photo. Utagawa Hiroshige (歌川広重) [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons