Modern-day Tokyo lies within the “viewshed” of Mt. Fuji. After the Tokugawa shogunate’s headquarters were established in Edo (the site of modern Tokyo) at the start of the seventeenth century, Mt. Fuji began its transformation into the widely recognized “symbol of Japan” that it is today. The volcano’s fame is now global in scope, spurred by the spread of images of its symmetrical cone. The woodblock prints of Hokusai and Hiroshige are among the best-known representations and helped win Mt. Fuji Cultural World Heritage Site status in 2013.
Today, the view of Mt. Fuji from Tokyo is often obscured by skyscrapers, but one can easily still find Fuji in Tokyo. We sent the Lewis & Clark College participants in the 2014 Mt. Fuji Summer Overseas Program out into the neighborhoods of Tokyo to do just that. Browse the slideshow below to see what they found! You can also take a Google Earth tour contextualizing some of these images and showing where in Tokyo they are found; just download the files and play them in Google Earth (see here for help on playing tours):
- Touring Tokyo to Find Fujisan, Symbol of Japan (Joshua Proto)
- Fuji in Tokyo: A Powerful Marketing Tool (Oscar Cojocariu)
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