Epic Mount Fuji among highlights of Japan!

Sunrise was at 4:47am and I was up well before that to enjoy this mesmerizing view; supposedly, Mt. Fuji is shrouded by clouds most of the time so we were lucky

Mount Fuji is the highest volcano in Japan at 3,776 m (12,389 ft), 2nd-highest peak on an island (volcanic) in Asia, and 7th-highest peak on an island in the world

The cherry trees were still in bloom around Mount Fuji thanks to the higher elevation; the all-time record high temperature on the summit is only 64 degrees (the all-time low is -36 degrees)

Hundreds of thousands climb Mount Fuji every summer and GAdventures has tours that incorporate the climb but we were too early in the season; it takes 5-7 hours for the ascent and 3-4 hours for the descent

There is a Thomas the Tank Engine theme park near Mt. Fuji so our train was all decked out to promote the park; the odd thing was the people going to Mt. Fuji I saw were all adults with no kids

Mt Fuji is one of three spiritual mountains in Japan; the next day I could see Mt. Fuji from the observation decks of two of Tokyo's tallest buildings

Some people really enjoyed Japanese food but I couldn't find much that appealed to me; I ended up getting microwave spaghetti from 7-11 most nights

The Japanese are serious photographers with sights like this pretty common; locals would dress in traditional attire and go to a photogenic temple and conduct what I would consider a photo shoot

The Japanese put their trash bags under these fishing nets to keep items from blowing away or birds from getting into the bags; the garbagemen (the system is not automated) then lay the net back precisely where it was

We walked around the lake waiting for clouds to clear from Mount Fuji; a dormant stratovolcano that last erupted in 1707–1708, Mount Fuji is snow-capped for about 5 months a year