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If a person would only be able to experience Japan once for a photography workshop, I would invite them to my annual Mt. Fuji Photo Tour Expedition. For more than two decades, I have been exploring the Mt. Fuji region. I am drawn to FujiSan – as a moth is to a flame – so I insist on introducing the iconic symbol of Japan to visiting photographers even when the project’s focus is in winter and birding or landscape photography on my annual Hokkaido winter photography tour plus Snow Monkeys in Nagano. Mt. Fuji has been worshipped over for thousands of years, even before this island nation was called Japan, beginning with the First Nations People, the Ainu. The Ainu understood Mt. Fuji’s inherent cultural and spiritual value. Mt. Fuji stands essentially unchanged for ages, representing something larger and more meaningful than the nation itself. It carries the essence of the people and the natural world. The Ainu know this and lend the appropriate revery to Japan’s iconic peak. 

A cold winters day at the base of Mt. Fuji, its rare to have any of the five lakes totally freeze over, in my over 20 years I have only seen this three time. I took this shot while leading a Mt. Fuji tour.

Fujisan became a sacred volcanic peak because of the powers that be used their faith to interpret the guiding force behind the continuing volume of the lava flow. That lava flow phenomenon created the Aokigahara Forest, The Sea of Trees; it’s a phenomenal, legendary forest that spans over three thousand and four hundred hectares across the Northwest base of Mt. Fuji. My recommendations always come rooted in the form of personal experience, and Mt. Fuji and its surrounding area are no different. The Sea of Trees and Mt. Fuji are inextricably linked on my Mt. Fuji Photography Tour Workshop adventures, and each year I find something I have never seen before, part of my beginner’s mindset that allows me to approach a location I frequent with a fresh perspective.

Aokigahara Forest, The Sea of Trees where they grow in volcanic planting pots. I took this shot while leading a Mt. Fuji photo tour.

Twenty-plus years later, I am still using the same trails when I am leading a Mount Fuji Photography Workshop spanning into the prefectures of Yamanashi, Shizuoka, Kanagawa, Nagano, and on the beaten path in Tokyo when the visibility is clear to view Mt. Fuji. For your information, and for those who are planning to visit the base of Mt. Fuji, it 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, but some of my colleagues who run on the beaten path photo workshops use it, but even my colleagues comment on how bored they are just making money from the garden variety international tourists who don’t know better. 

A favorite vantage point and hiking region where we have the picture perfect view of Mt. Fuji. I took this image in the spring while leading my annul Cherry Blossom Mt. Fuji Tour.

Take an Off the Beaten Path Mt. Fuji Adventure with me in 2022!
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