That’s what the region’s governor reportedly said in September.
As an active volcano, Fujisan is certainly capable of screaming and much, much more, but we’ll get into that next Sunday.
The problem that worries the governor so seriously has been described more humorously (but accurately) in a book, Dave Berry Does Japan, by the noted presidential candidate, lawnmower-drill participant, author, and Miami Herald columnist, who visited Mount Fuji personally. (Or so they told him: he never actually saw it, he wrote, due to fog and crowds.)
As Chakraborty and Jones put it:
Tourism at Mount Fuji has changed significantly from its pilgrimage roots, and this transformation has put considerable pressure on the landscape. The natural heritage of this area urgently needs holistic planning and conservation measures to control the footprint of tourism and urban development.
Pilgrimage?
Yes:
They used to walk from Kyoto when it was the capital of Japan. When the capital moved to Tokyo, they walked from there. The pilgrimage from Tokyo to the top of Mount Fuji and back took about eight days.
But…there was the worship of the mountain. Although many people believed Mount Fuji itself was a goddess, there were also strands of faith that believed it was home to many other gods – and even a link to the underworld.
And so all along the approach to the summit of the volcano are temples and shrines that locals would pray at and the pilgrims would stop to worship at along their journey.
— Source
Today, it is a different experience —
Keep in mind that this is all happening on a very young, very active volcano that looks beautiful and eternally graceful now only because it is resting in between eruptions.
Those can be quite violent.
The Smithsonian’s Global Volcanism Program page describes Fujisan this way:
The conical form of Fujisan, Japan’s highest and most noted volcano, belies its complex origin. The modern postglacial stratovolcano is constructed above a group of overlapping volcanoes, remnants of which form irregularities on Fuji’s profile. Growth of the Younger Fuji volcano began with a period of voluminous lava flows from 11,000 to 8000 years before present (BP), accounting for four-fifths of the volume of the Younger Fuji volcano. Minor explosive eruptions dominated activity from 8000 to 4500 BP, with another period of major lava flows occurring from 4500 to 3000 BP. Subsequently, intermittent major explosive eruptions occurred, with subordinate lava flows and small pyroclastic flows. Summit eruptions dominated from 3000 to 2000 BP, after which flank vents were active. The extensive basaltic lava flows from the summit and some of the more than 100 flank cones and vents blocked drainages against the Tertiary Misaka Mountains on the north side of the volcano, forming the Fuji Five Lakes, popular resort destinations. The last confirmed eruption of this dominantly basaltic volcano in 1707 was Fuji’s largest during historical time. It deposited ash on Edo (Tokyo) and formed a large new crater on the east flank.
Of course, Fujisan is monitored in every conceivable way. Trouble signs most likely will be detected well before an eruption, so those crowds aren’t likely to be caught on the flank or summit by a sudden Mount St. Helens 1980-style event.
Yes, Fuji does operate on that scale, although it has frequent smaller eruptions, too.
Visitors and nearby residents should be all right in the event of catastrophe.
But what about things they can’t move — like Tokyo?
We’ll look into that more next time.
Lagniappe:
All this will change over time, so let’s enjoy it while it’s here — an 8K visit to Japan from two years ago (the YouTube site note identifies each location):
Featured image: Image by Esteban Arboleda Bermudez from Pixabay
Flight To Wonder 