Facts About Mount Fuji

Did you know that there are over 100 active volcanos In Japan? Did you also know that Mount fuji is the biggest volcano in Japan? With Mount Fuji reaching up to 12,380 feet (3,776) meters. Well, Mount Fuji is not just a volcano. It is Japan's symbol. The mountain is the symbol of Japan because it contributes to Japan’s physical culture, and spiritual geography. Climbing Mount Fuji is an act of pilgrimage for followers of that faith.

With Mount Fuji covering 20,702.1 hectares or 207.021 square kilometers, it has not surprisingly erupted since 1707, (114,394 years ago) on December 16. It has become Japan's biggest attraction to tourists. Today many climbers use it for recreation rather than worship, but it remains imbued with a sense of sacredness. Many people climb Mount Fuji, and many have successfully completed it, but others not so lucky nearly 320,000 people have completed climbing it, yet 25 people have died trying to climb it due to it being off-season. You can take four different trails to reach the top. The best time to climb Mount Fuji is July 1st to September 14th. It usually gets crowded so the best way to avoid that Is to climb it on weekdays in August. Climbing it is technically free but however, you will pay about $90 to make a reservation in a sleeping hut. Depending on the tail you take it will be about 5-10 hours to climb it.

Mount Fuji is a stratovolcano formed by its violent eruptions it has layers of rock, ash, and lava! Mount Fuji is made up by three different active volcanos! The bottom Volcano with the name Komitofake is summated by Ko Fuji (old fuji) and finally the base and most recent Shin Fuji (new fuji). Mount Fuji’s volcanos started erupting in the Pleistocene Epoch. Shin Fuji started forming 11,000 to 8,000 years ago. The first time Mount Fuji erupted it was caused by an 8.6 magnitude earthquake that struck the coast of Japan on the 28th of October 1707. The subsequently caused Mount Fuji to erupt 49 days later.

On the first day of the eruption, seventy-twos houses and three Buddhist temples were destroyed. Ash fell over the South Kanto plain, Tokyo, and on the area near the Pacific Ocean. It erupted for sixteen days; explosives were recorded until the 25th-27th- until Mount Fuji started calming down on January 1st, 1708. An eruption now could threaten the lives of over eight million people in Tokyo and nearby areas, as well as destroy roads railways connecting some of Japan's most populated cities. Mount Fuji would cause so much ash onto Tokyo’s capital that it would transport network would be paralyzed for three hours. Mount Fuji is surrounded by five lakes, Lake Kawaguchiko, Lake Yamanakako, Lake Saiko, Lake Shojiko, and finally Lake Motosuko. All the lakes are located at the northern base of mount fuji. The five lakes were formed hundreds of years ago by the lava flows and damaged the rivers because Mount Fujis' multiple eruptions resulted in the formation of the five lakes.

Due to Mount Fuji erupting and causing an estimate of twenty-thousand deaths, today Japanese scientists have found a way to monitor the volcano. There is a CCTV camera system that enables real-time monitoring on live video streaming throughout different cables in offices. There are three X-band MP Rader facilities installed by Chubu Regional Development Bureau Shizoku Prefecture. The rain gauge provides detailed information in real-time.

Mount Fuji has a military background. The Volcano is also known for being home to the warrior culture in Japan. The Samurais used the area for training. Mount Fuji is a relatively safe destination as the Volcano near-dormant and will need an excessively big earthquake or a lot of pressure to erupt! Luckily now, there is not too much pressure in the magma chamber.

With that being said would you ever consider climbing Japan’s biggest Volcano Mount Fuji?