Understanding Mt. Fuji’s topography is key when leading a Mt. Fuji photo tour workshop. Around Mt. Fuji, there are five lakes Yamanaka, Kawaguchi, Saiko, Shōji and Motosu lakes known as the (fuji five lakes and on any given day at one of the Fuji Five lakes, your view of Fujisan could be completely overcast, only being able to photograph a hazy, cloud obscured Mt. Fuji, but at another of the Fuji Five lakes, only 30 minutes away, you will have clear skies. I have journeyed to Mt. Fuji countless times; my primary home in Japan is a ninety-minute drive, and I know the weather patterns like the back of my hand, and I always have a backup for my backup in case of foul weather. By contrast, tour operators using a bus as a mode of transportation follow a schedule, not a weather report. If there aren’t any photo ops in the narrowly-defined window of time available, the workshop leader will simply say, “these things happen,” and then move onto the next stop on their unalterable itinerary, but my clients are part of a convoy of SUVs where everyone has business class seating and access to my encyclopedic knowledge of Mt. Fuji’s weather patterns and mythology, sociology, and history dating back to when the First Nations People of Japan, the Ainu, inhabited the region. I have photography workshops listed with the most prominent online tour and workshop organizers, Trip Advisor, and Viator, among others. However, even the tours I have listed there are still flexible enough that I can update an itinerary and still get my clients the photos of a lifetime while joining my Japan Photo tour workshops.
When clients join any of my Japan photo workshops, such as my annual Hokkaido photo tour, I recommend spending a morning and evening golden hour at Mt. Fuji. And on my annual Hokkaido winter tour after the golden morning hour at Fujisan, everyone has breakfast; we pack up the SUVs and drive to Nagano for a few days’ visit with snow monkeys in hot springs. On the way from Mt. Fuji to the snow monkeys, we stop at Japan’s oldest sacred Shinto shrine complex, where hundreds of thousands of Japanese pilgrimage to annually. Mt. Fuji stands essentially unchanged for ages, representing something more significant and more meaningful than the nation itself. It carries the essence of the people and the natural world. The only time I don’t incorporate Mt. Fuji into a photo tour is during the rainy season or summertime. During the rainy season, I inform my participants there is a 1 - 5% chance of seeing Mt. Fuji, and 5% may actually be an overstatement.
Whenever I return to Mt. Fuji, I remember one of my earliest experiences visiting and camping there. After a few days of planning pre-departure, I was off to Mt. Fuji, where my new Japanese family and wife had booked me into a campground. The campground was crowded with visitors, all of them sharing a singular perspective of Fujisan. This is the kind of on-the-beaten path exploration that I can do without, and the type of Mt. Fuji Photo Workshop that many agencies and photo workshop companies offer to their participants, a shallow and forgettable introduction to one of Japan’s most iconic symbols. Before, during, and post C/19, being elbow to elbow with many other photographers is something I have energetically avoided. Health and safety are always paramount for my participants, group support team members, workshop co-leaders, and, of course, myself as well. During my first solo visit to Mt. fuji years ago, I decided to leave the campground after two days, but the morning I was leaving, I met a kind Japanese gentleman who spoke English, who explained to me that camping around the forest of Mount Fuji was allowed. After half a day of enjoying the fantastic natural surroundings and scouting for a new campsite, I found one on a well laid out hiking trail, with a small stream nearby, on the Northwest base of Mt. Fuji, in what I would later learn is called (Aokigahara – The Sea Of Trees). I enjoyed a peaceful night and slept calmly in nature. The following morning, I woke up unusually late, well after sunrise, due to the canopy blocking much of the incoming light. After breakfast, I thought I would do a little hiking through the beautiful lush peat moss-filled forest. After a few steps off the trail, I was shocked, and luckily, I realized the ground beneath me was unstable with the possibility of volcanic crevices, as I mentioned in part 1 of this 2 part newsletter. ( I realized the ground beneath me was unstable. Carefully, I kneeled and spread my body out on the ground; I lifted up a thick layer of green moss and dug into about a foot of peat moss, and below that was razor-sharp volcanic rock. If I had ended up continuing my stroll, I could have very easily fallen into a volcanic planting pot, broken my ankle or leg, or even worse, and I could have fallen into a cave, gone forever. Thankfully, I was close to my campsite and trail, not veering too far from the established path.)
Twenty-plus years later, I am still using the same trails and routes with fantastic views of Mt. Fuji which span into the prefectures of Yamanashi, Shizuoka, Kanagawa, and Nagano. For those planning to visit the base of Mt. Fuji and the fuji five lakes, let it be known this region is not accessible to everyday visitors. Of the Five Fuji Lakes (there are actually two more plus the ocean and several mountain ranges), using mass transit, you will only have easy access to two of the Fuji Five Lakes, and time schedules restrict you. On my Mt. Fuji Photography Workshops, I never use public transportation because of how limiting it is; all my participants see Japan in the comfort of business class SUVs. Safety continues to be my priority number one, so even in a post-covid world, I can introduce international visitors and Japan residents to Mt. Fuji’s fantastic splendor. In closing, over 98% of Japanese people have never visited all the Fuji five lakes; in contrast, when you visit Mt. Fuji with me, you will not only see the fuji five lakes you will touch the healing waters of all five.