Are you interested in mountain climbing? It's sometimes very difficult to do, but the view can be quite beautiful when you reach the top. The most famous mountain in Japan is of course Mount Fuji:
This is the highest mountain in Japan. It's about 3776 meters high. Every year many people climb this mountain so that they can watch the sunrise from the highest point in Japan. In fact, there is a well-known Japanese proverb (ことわざ) which says that a wise person climbs Mount Fuji once in their life. I climbed Mount Fuji in 2006 when I was living in Nagano. But I don't want to climb it again. The same proverb says that a stupid person (or a "fool") climbs Mount Fuji twice! For me, I first became interested in reaching the top of Mount Fuji when I was living in Akita. That's because of Mount Chokai:
The shape of Mount Chokai is similar to Mount Fuji. Since it is the highest mountain in Akita, people there often call it "Akita Fuji". It's 2236 meters high, and it is actually the highest mountain in all of Tohoku. Mount Hiuchigatake (燧ヶ岳) in Fukushima is a little higher at 2356m, but some of that mountain is outside of the Tohoku area. Mount Chokai is completely in either Akita or Yamagata. I climbed that mountain in 2003 with some of my friends from Akita. After climbing the Mount Fuji of Tohoku, of course I wanted to try climbing the REAL Mount Fuji someday. In August 2006, I finally had a chance to do it because one of my Japanese co-workers (he was another English teacher) wanted to try, too. But it was really hard work!!
Here is one of the signs you can see while climbing Mount Fuji. There is such nice scenery when you are high up like that. The problem is that it's a little hard to breathe. I sometimes saw other climbers on the mountain trail who had oxygen canisters:
"Altitude" means how high you are. There are 3 kinds of altitude that mountain climbers should know about. The first is called "high altitude" and is from 1500m to 3500m. The second is called "very high altitude" and is from 3500m to 5500m. And the last is called "extreme altitude" and is anything higher than 5500m. Humans can become sick when they climb mountains, even when they are just at high altitude. The top of Mount Fuji is at a very high altitude, so some people can't climb it all the way without getting a kind of "mountain sickness". Mount Everest is the highest mountain in the world, and it is at an extreme altitude. Many people have died trying to climb that mountain. Please be careful if you decide to do mountain climbing!!! But I think you don't have to worry about Mount Fuji right now.
Trail |
Opening Period
|
Remarks |
Yoshida Trail(Yamanashi Pref.) |
July 1 - September 10 |
The descending trail will remain open until September 11 morning. |
Subashiri Trail(Shizuoka Pref.) |
July 10 - September 10 |
|
Gotemba Trail(Shizuoka Pref.) |
July 10 - September 10 |
|
Fujinomiya Trail(Shizuoka Pref.) |
July 10 - September 10 |
|
Summit[Ohachimeguri Trail] |
July 10 - September 10
|
|
The information above is from a website about climbing Mount Fuji (http://www.fujisan-climb.jp/en/season/index.html). It shows the 4 main trails or ways to climb that mountain. As you can see, all of them closed just last week. So you will have to wait until next year to go to the top of Mount Fuji, if you want to climb it soon. OK, I hope you have a great weekend. You can climb a small mountain here in Sendai this weekend, but please try to be safe! Don't go too fast. If you fall, it might be a very far drop!!
- Peter