More Links to Mt. Fuji Sites

More Links to Mt. Fuji Sites
(and maybe a few other sites of interest)

This links page is intended to supplement the Fuji links found in the pages of my host site, Sunplus Company Limited. There may be a few duplicates, though.

These links are presented without solicitation or commercial enticements to me by the respective page owners. These are sites that are of particular interest to me, and I believe others may enjoy their content or find them useful. If you are the owner of a site to which I have made a link and wish to have it removed (???), or if you find a broken link, please send me a brief message via my Feedback page. I will make the change as soon as possible.

Almost all of the links on this page are external to this site. Each external link should open in a new window.

Click one of these shortcuts to find links faster:

Accommodation
Live Cameras
Maps and Directions
Mountain Health, Climber's Accounts, and Miscellaneous Articles
Weather Information
Miscellaneous

Accommodation: You might need a place to stay before and/or after you climb, especially if you will be in Japan only for a short time. Also included is a list of huts on the mountain. I do not have any other information or reference materials about places to stay in Japan.

Fuji Hakone Guest House	Highly recommended! Very-reasonably-priced traditional accommodations. Located on the Gotemba side of Mt. Fuji, in beautiful Hakone. Online reservations available. Includes information for Moto-Hakone Guest House and Sengokuhara Youth Hostel.
eRyokan	A ryokan is a traditional Japanese-style inn. eRyokan lists numerous inns and other types of lodging throughout Japan. Prices range from very reasonable to very expensive. Online reservation assistance for all inns listed. Home page link at left provides access to English, Chinese and Japanese versions of the site. Lots of "how to" info pages for tips on staying in traditional lodging.
Japanese Inn Group (original page) Japanese Inn Group (new page)	Extensive list of inns, both traditional and modern, with detailed info about directions, rates and type of accommodations. Includes links to web pages for individual inns. FAQ pages on either site provide "how to use" info for staying at a Japanese Inn. The opening "Flash" movies on either site are quite nice.
Japan National Tourist Organization	TONS, LOADS and LOTS of information about visiting Japan, including Places To Stay, Regional Travel Plans (model sightseeing courses), and Regional Tourist Information. Home page at left provides access to 8 different language versions of the site.
Mountain Huts on Fuji	Many Fuji climbers plan their event to include a stay in one of the 2 dozen or so huts on the mountain. Planning ahead, by reserving a space at one of the huts, will add to the organization of your trip, and maybe increase your safety margin a bit. This list will provide contact phone numbers and, where available, brief information and web links for each of the huts on the primary mountain trails. Be prepared to communicate with the majority of these hut-keepers in Japanese.

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Live Cameras: There are all kinds of cameras keeping a watchful eye on Fujisan. Have a look for yourself! These are some of the best. Keep in mind that, if you are in daylight in the U.S., Mt. Fuji is almost half a world away from you and may be in darkness

Sunplus	Image updated every 10 minutes throughout the day, taken from Numazu, Shizuoka Pref. Gallery of images for current and previous days. If weather conditions are just right on winter nights, it is possible to view Mt. Fuji in the moonlight. Links to many other Fuji cams.
Zekkeikun	A nice view from the extreme NE corner of Lake Yamanaka. Nice sunset shots in winter. Image updates every five minutes. Interesting links to a couple of 360 degree panorama shots.
F-Cam	Yamanashi Broadcasting System's SkyEye camera from Fujiyoshida City. Usually aimed at Fuji, but occasionally pointed elsewhere if the mountain is obscured by clouds. Nice sunrise shots in winter. If the night-time weather is clear in July and August you can see the bright lights of the huts on the Kawaguchiko trail from about the 7th station to the top.
Fujigoko TV	Fuji Five lakes TV system's fixed cam at Mitsutoge (3 passes). Nice large image. Great night-time views of the string-of-lights from the Fuji mountainside (up to about 8:00 PM during the summer climbing season), as well as sunrise and sunset views in winter.
Fujiyoshida LiveScope	From Fujiyoshida City. This is a "live" camera with remote user control. Click on the "Start Control" button to get access to the camera for 20 seconds (longer if no one else is waiting.) Five pre-set camera angles get you to the most popular views quickly. Check the Mt. Fuji (Top) pre-set on clear nights in July and August and see if you can spot the bright lights of the huts on the Kawaguchiko trail. Also check the night view of the pre-set for the Amusement Park (Fujikyu Highland) to catch the light show on the big Ferris Wheel. The tall white structure behind the Ferris Wheel (night view) is their vertical roller coaster, DoDonPa (supposedly the fastest in the world, at 172 kph.) Be patient - this is one busy camera!
Kawaguchiko Livescope	Near the shore of Lake Kawaguchi. Another "live" camera with remote user control. This one gives you access for 30 seconds at a time. Nice views on a clear day, but tough to see anything interesting at night. Also, might be switched off at night, after about 8:00 PM. Sometimes slow to load, but otherwise a neat camera. Six pre-set views. Oohasi (oohashi) = the "big bridge" across the lake. Ravender = Lavender field.

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Maps and Directions: There are several trails for climbing Mt. Fuji, and several railways and highways providing access to the mountain. These web sites have maps and directions that may be helpful.

Fuji Trails (Map)	From Climber.org. Excellent scan of one of the best Fuji topographic maps. Shows all the 5th Station starting points for the primary trails to climb Mt. Fuji. Fully bilingual and in color. This GIF is about 992KB.
Fuji Summit (Map)	From Climber.org. This high quality scan is the reverse-side image of the trails map (above.) Shows routes to descend from the summit of Fuji. Also fully bilingual and in color. The GIF is about 658KB.
Road and Rail Access (Map)	From Climber.org. Most points of interest (stations, intersections, etc.) are bilingual, but the sidebars and text-based information is in Japanese only. This color GIF is about 1.6MB; expect an extended download time.
Rail, Bus and Driving Access to Fujiyoshida	The link at left takes you directly to the "Getting Here" page of the Fujiyoshida City web site. The page shows Rail, Bus and Driving directions to Fujiyoshida from several regions, as well as links to bus schedules. Fujiyoshida web site pages are maintained by the Fujiyoshida International Affairs Desk.
Rail and Bus Access to Mt. Fuji	The link at left takes you directly to the "Getting To Mt. Fuji" page of the Fujiyoshida City web site. The page shows Rail and Bus directions to Fujiyoshida from several regions, as well as charts and additional links* to bus schedules. *May be in Japanese only. Fujiyoshida web site pages are maintained by the Fujiyoshida International Affairs Desk.
Trails in Shizuoka	Shizuoka Prefecture is home to three Mt. Fuji trails, which can challenge climbers of all types. This page will briefly introduce you to each trail, including vehicle access and typical climbing times. There is also a small map showing the general orientation of the trails, roads, and train stations around the mountain. A similar site from Shizuoka Prefecture is here.

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Mountain Health, Climber's Accounts, and Miscellaneous Articles: Information about altitude-related illnesses, and personal accounts of Fuji climbs found on the internet. Lots of info in the form of e-zine articles, too. These are some of my favorites, in no particular order.

A Woman's Perspective	It wasn't too many years ago, from Fujisan's point of view, that women were not allowed to set foot upon the mountain, lest they rile the female deity enshrined there. Here is a brief account of a climb by a woman who tackled Mt. Fuji in 2002 with equal measures of adventure and respect. Unfortunately, the spirit of Mt. Fuji had a different plan .....
High Altitude Medicine	One of the absolute best web sites to help you understand what happens to the human body at altitude, why-when-how these things occur, and what you (might) do to counteract them. If you've never hiked on a mountain in your life, visit this site before you visit ANY mountain.
Mountain Diary: Mt. Fuji	An outstanding and highly detailed account of a Mt. Fuji climb. Excellent photos and graphics. Fully bilingual (Japanese and English.)
Climbing Mt. Fuji	An interesting personal account, with a few photos, of a climb on the Fujinomiya trail.. Plenty of insightful comments about preparation and mountain conditions.
Fuji-san: A Travelogue	A personal account by an Indian gent working in Tokyo. Some of the data and facts presented are a bit inaccurate, but the significance is once again in his own observations of personal achievement.
Fuji-No-Yama	A wonderfully descriptive account by Lafcadio Hearn, written in 1898! Considering the obvious differences over the span of a century, Hearn's account is, in many ways, not unlike those of today's climbers. But witness his prose: "No spot in this world can be more horrible, more atrociously dismal, than the cindered tip of the Lotus as you stand upon it." Read this one.
Mastering Mt. Fuji	Another personal account, from the archives of BusinessWeek online.
Climbing Mt. Fuji In Japan	From About.com's Japan for Visitors site. Commercial, but accurate.
Mountaineering In Japan: Mt. Fuji - 1994 Mountaineering In Japan: Mt. Fuji - 2000 (includes Yatsugatake)	Because so many people have written me asking about climbing in winter, here are two vivid accounts, from November 1994 and a '99-'00 Millennium climb. The so-called Toyohashi Alpine Club appears to be a small group of avid winter mountain trekkers. I first encountered their detailed trekking reports a few years ago and linked to them from this page. A couple of years ago the sites that had been hosting these stories have either dried up, or their html code was hacked to redirect the reader to some other site. Fortunately, I had saved the original pages, code intact, for just such a case. I have reproduced both of these excellent stories here, nearly true to the originals, though I've "fixed" some of the spelling. If you're thinking of doing Fuji in winter, read these stories before you go. Thanks to Darren, wherever you are, for two great reports.
On The Peak Of The Rising Sun	A well written, detailed and sometimes moving account of a late season climb (1997?) on the Fujinomiya Trail. Several nice photos, including an attractive composition for the sunrise.
A Model Fuji Hiking Plan	Because you asked for it. A step-by-step look at a model (typical) Mt. Fuji climbing event, via the Kawaguchiko route. Clicking on this link will NOT open a new browser window.

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Weather Information for Mt. Fuji: Keep in mind that Mt. Fuji "makes its own weather." This statement is repeated in Japanese, English, and probably other languages, across the Internet. No city-based weather forecast will ever come close to detailing the weather conditions up on the mountain. Fujisan's weather is directly affected by the constant interaction of warm, moist air flowing in from the coast and cooler, dryer air from the mainland. The result is a highly localized weather system that can change within minutes from place to place on the mountain. Because of these factors, weather forecasting for the mountain is (to me, anyway) a "best guess."

Fujisan Summit
Weather Forecast (ENGLISH) This is the only weather forecast I have ever been aware of, in English or any other language, for the summit of Mt. Fuji. Fujiyoshida City Hall usually contracts with a local weather center to provide the forecast information ONLY during the official climbing season of July 1 - August 27. If the data on the page is old, then it's likely that Fujiyoshida City Hall has not renewed their contract for the service.
The page is available during the off-season months, but it will not show any updates from September through June. The previous season's historical weather data may prove helpful, though. You can review the data to get a fair idea of what the weather was like, and use the information to help you plan your climb.

Fujisan Summit
Weather Information (JAPANESE ONLY) Yamakei reports the weather on Fujisan's peak every few hours throughout the day, and includes the completed chart for the previous day. The chart, though it is in Japanese, is not difficult to figure out for temperature, wind direction and wind speed.
Yamakei does not provide a forecast for Fujisan, but they do forecast twice daily (about 4:00 AM and about 4:00 PM) for other peaks throughout Japan, at this page. Once again, these pages are in Japanese Only.

5th Station Weather
Information #1
(JAPANESE ONLY) This is the weather page for the web site of 5th Station Rest House at the head of the Kawaguchiko climbing route. It reports the early morning weather at the Kawaguchiko 5th Station. Just below the weather report is a "guess" at what the weather is expected to be like later in the day up on the mountain.
You can access their home page in Japanese or in English. There is a "weather" icon on the English page, but it does not work.

Here's the neat Flash Intro Page for the 5th Station Rest House. After viewing the brief intro, you can click on the "English" link at the top of the Japanese home page.

5th Station Weather
Information #2
(JAPANESE ONLY) This is the web site for the Mt. Fuji Volunteer Center. They have a nice English Brochure, but their web site is only in Japanese. Their goal is "the nationwide development of the Mt. Fuji environment preservation movement." The MFVC supports the aims of the Mt. Fuji Charter. Their office is located inside the Fuji Visitor Center (see link below.)

(Okay, so where's the weather?) Near the bottom of this web page, in very small characters below a small animated GIF, is a report of the mid-morning weather condition at the Kawaguchiko 5th Station (Mon-Fri only.) This is NOT a forecast.

AltaVista's Babel Fish
Translation Service
(opens in a new window)
If the world were a perfect place, all languages would easily translate from one to another. Sadly, this was not part of "the master plan." Enter the folks at AltaVista, who have set up a neat web-based translation tool. If you can't find someone to help you read the Japanese sites above, give the Babel Fish page a try.

Frankly, even the most fluent bilingual (English-Japanese) people I know are occasionally at a loss for a proper context translation. So it's no wonder that Babel Fish, an artificial intelligence application, comes up with some strange representations of the Japanese characters and phrases. But it IS fun to use. With a bit of open-minded interpretation, you can get a pretty good idea of the context of the original document or page.

This link will open Babel Fish in a new window. Let it run in the background. Then come back to this page and look up the Japanese pages of interest to you. Copy the (Japanese) page address into the Babel Fish address box, select the translation mode (Japanese to English) from the drop-down menu, then click on the "Translate" button. Within a few seconds the web page will reappear in English (or something close to it.)

Fuji Visitor Center	Hours of operation; interesting facts and figures; brief geo-history; and more. Note: you may need to adjust your text encoding to Japanese (auto-select) in order to view some or all of the characters correctly. If you are using IE5.5 or later, you might check the Windows Update site for the appropriate files, then change your encoding to Japanese (auto-select).
Fuji Volcano	Photos and brief technical information on the history of the mountain. From the Volcano Research Center (VRC) of the University of Tokyo.
Fuji Geology	Detailed technical data on what made/makes Mt. Fuji tick, also from VRC.
Mt. Fuji Code	Good words by which we can all work to preserve the ecology and environment of Mt. Fuji.

More to come .....

Introduction / Facts & Other Information / Preparation / Safety Precautions

Health Tips / FAQs / Quotable Quotes / Winter / Links / My Info Page

Questions or comments? Please submit feedback to the author. (Did you check my Links page first?)
Copyright © 1997-2003 by SUNPLUS COMPANY LIMITED and S. P. Keehn. All rights reserved.
Revised: Sunday, July 27, 2003

Fujisan Summit Weather Forecast	(ENGLISH) This is the only weather forecast I have ever been aware of, in English or any other language, for the summit of Mt. Fuji. Fujiyoshida City Hall usually contracts with a local weather center to provide the forecast information ONLY during the official climbing season of July 1 - August 27. If the data on the page is old, then it's likely that Fujiyoshida City Hall has not renewed their contract for the service. The page is available during the off-season months, but it will not show any updates from September through June. The previous season's historical weather data may prove helpful, though. You can review the data to get a fair idea of what the weather was like, and use the information to help you plan your climb.
Fujisan Summit Weather Information	(JAPANESE ONLY) Yamakei reports the weather on Fujisan's peak every few hours throughout the day, and includes the completed chart for the previous day. The chart, though it is in Japanese, is not difficult to figure out for temperature, wind direction and wind speed. Yamakei does not provide a forecast for Fujisan, but they do forecast twice daily (about 4:00 AM and about 4:00 PM) for other peaks throughout Japan, at this page. Once again, these pages are in Japanese Only.
5th Station Weather Information #1	(JAPANESE ONLY) This is the weather page for the web site of 5th Station Rest House at the head of the Kawaguchiko climbing route. It reports the early morning weather at the Kawaguchiko 5th Station. Just below the weather report is a "guess" at what the weather is expected to be like later in the day up on the mountain. You can access their home page in Japanese or in English. There is a "weather" icon on the English page, but it does not work. Here's the neat Flash Intro Page for the 5th Station Rest House. After viewing the brief intro, you can click on the "English" link at the top of the Japanese home page.
5th Station Weather Information #2	(JAPANESE ONLY) This is the web site for the Mt. Fuji Volunteer Center. They have a nice English Brochure, but their web site is only in Japanese. Their goal is "the nationwide development of the Mt. Fuji environment preservation movement." The MFVC supports the aims of the Mt. Fuji Charter. Their office is located inside the Fuji Visitor Center (see link below.) (Okay, so where's the weather?) Near the bottom of this web page, in very small characters below a small animated GIF, is a report of the mid-morning weather condition at the Kawaguchiko 5th Station (Mon-Fri only.) This is NOT a forecast.
AltaVista's Babel Fish Translation Service (opens in a new window)	If the world were a perfect place, all languages would easily translate from one to another. Sadly, this was not part of "the master plan." Enter the folks at AltaVista, who have set up a neat web-based translation tool. If you can't find someone to help you read the Japanese sites above, give the Babel Fish page a try. Frankly, even the most fluent bilingual (English-Japanese) people I know are occasionally at a loss for a proper context translation. So it's no wonder that Babel Fish, an artificial intelligence application, comes up with some strange representations of the Japanese characters and phrases. But it IS fun to use. With a bit of open-minded interpretation, you can get a pretty good idea of the context of the original document or page. This link will open Babel Fish in a new window. Let it run in the background. Then come back to this page and look up the Japanese pages of interest to you. Copy the (Japanese) page address into the Babel Fish address box, select the translation mode (Japanese to English) from the drop-down menu, then click on the "Translate" button. Within a few seconds the web page will reappear in English (or something close to it.)

Questions or comments? Please submit feedback to the author. (Did you check my Links page first?) Copyright © 1997-2003 by SUNPLUS COMPANY LIMITED and S. P. Keehn. All rights reserved. Revised: Sunday, July 27, 2003

Questions or comments? Please submit feedback to the author. (Did you check my Links page first?)
Copyright © 1997-2003 by SUNPLUS COMPANY LIMITED and S. P. Keehn. All rights reserved.
Revised: Sunday, July 27, 2003