Capturing The Elusive Mt. Fuji

After two failed opportunities to set foot on Mt. Fuji, I finally had another chance last Sunday. A group of Filipinos organized a bus tour, the first stop of which would be Mt. Fuji’s 5^th Station, perched 2,305 meters above sea level.

But sadly, rain fell hard (remnants perhaps of the typhoon that just passed by the Philippines). Early on, even while we were still assembling in Tokyo, we recognized that it will be difficult for us to get spectacular views while we’re up there. But the incurable optimists that Pinoys are, we still crossed our fingers that the skies will clear out when we arrive.

It didn’t. In fact, it rained much harder, reducing visibility by just about a few meters.

Hundreds of would-be trekkers to the summit were stranded.

For me, the biggest frustration was not finding anything special to shoot.

The 5^th station is home to many souvenir shops so it was where most people waited for the rain to stop. The others queued by the Mt. Fuji postal office, and just contented themselves with sending souvenir postcards to loved ones all over the world.

Resigned to not having a view of the surroundings, our group decided to go down to Kawaguchi Lake, which in better days would have had a very romantic view of Fuji-San.

But instead of getting this …… (pic lifted from the net)

....this was what I got.

Well, maybe next time. One day, I will still get my most-coveted awesome shot of the very elusive Mr. Fuji.