See the map HERE…

You can click on the DONE to see the post for that Fuji, in case you didn’t know already, and you can read the whole series by going to the 52 Fuji category page here.

UPDATE - Well, here we are in the year 2008, and only just halfway through the 52 Fujis.
As I’m overfond of saying, life got in the way. Not just dishes and phone calls from your ma when you’re trying to watch Countdown kind of in the way, but the whole “your company goes bankrupt so do you, move to another prefecture oh and did I mention I got married sometime before all that which took up a lot of my weekends” kind of way. So, what’s that make it now then, the third year? Crikey, I am slack.

If things go according to plan, the end of the year will see the Fujis completed and perhaps even a nice compendium of them all in book or PDF format for your downloadable perusal and enjoyment.

Then again, round my way, things never go according to plan…

For those still unacquainted with the madness that is the 52, here’s the back story -

Once upon a time, someone pointed out that there were dozens of train stations in Japan with Fuji in their name. In that tone of voice people use when they know they’re saying something stupid, he speculated that it might be cool to visit all of them.

I remembered this every time I checked the train times - sure enough, when you type Fuji into the search boxes on Jorudan, you get asked to confirm which Fuji exactly you mean, complete with a long list to choose from.

I thought about it some more. Then I copied down the names of the stations with Fuji in them: there were 51, if you included the stations with Shin tagged in front of them (these are usually shinkansen stations, but as shin means ‘new’, it doesn’t necessarily follow that a station called Shin-Whatever will be a watering hole for the fastest train in the east.) I also included any Fuji which had a compass direction in front of it - I was trying to be exhaustive, although I’m well aware I probably missed a few somewhere.

51. What a crappy number. Mind you, I’ve never climbed the mountain itself… Bingo. 52.

52 weeks in a year, 52 cards in a deck - seemed like a good number. Wouldn’t it be cool to visit all these Fujis over the course of a year? Kind of a themed rampage around Japan, exploring the countryside on a tenuous premise for no reason whatsoever, other than the ability to say, “Guess what I did?” at parties. Wouldn’t that be ‘mazin ?

Well, yes. I decided. Yes, it would.

Would it be possible?

I seriously doubted it. Leastways, not in a year - the stations range geographically from Fukuoka to Hokkaido, and quite possibly then some - I don’t know where half these places are. I have to work 260 days out of 365. This might be the stupidest idea anyone ever had.

I’m going to have a crack though, and whether it takes a year or longer, I’m going to do the 52.

Here’s the full list; it isn’t going to change, I’ve got 52, I’m not subtracting or adding any. I’m well aware that there are 3 different kanjis for Fuji, and only two of them apply to the mountain. (The other refers to wisteria.) That doesn’t matter to me - the word is all I need, its sound intrinsically linked to that massive strato-volcano in my backyard, forever conjuring up images of Japan. Looking over the list, I see that I may have a massive task on my hands, and the complete lack of any research thusfar makes this either a completely bonkers mission worthy of Don Quixote, or something so sublimely insane that it just might work

Stay tuned - the adventure begins…

Mount Fuji DONE
Fuji
Fuji Film Mae DONE
Fujie
Fujieda
Fujigaoka (Aichi Prefecture) DONE
Fujigaoka (Kanagawa Prefecture)DONE
Fujii DONE
Fujiidera DONE
Fujikawa (Aichi Prefecture)DONE
Fujikawa (Shizuoka Prefecture)DONE
Fujikoshi
Fujikyu Highland DONE
Fujimatsu DONE
Fujimi
Fujimicho (Kanagawa Prefecture) DONE
Fujimicho (Tottori Prefecture)
Fujimidai
Fujimigaoka DONE
Fujimino
Fujinami (Aichi Prefecture) DONE
Fujinami (Ishikawa Prefecture)
Fujinami (Wakayama Prefecture)
Fujine (Iwate Prefecture)
Fujine (Shizuoka Prefecture) DONE
Fujino DONE
Fujino-Ushijima
Fujinoki DONE
Fujinomiya DONE
Fujinomori DONE
Fujioka (Shizuoka Prefecture) DONE
Fujioka (Tochigi Prefecture)
Fujisaka DONE
Fujisaki (Aomori Prefecture)
Fujisaki (Fukuoka Prefecture)
Fujisakigu-mae DONE
Fujisawa DONE
Fujisawahommachi DONE
Fujishima
Fujishiro
Fujita
Fujitana DONE
Fujiyama
Fujiyama-shita
Fujiyoshida DONE
Shin-Fuji (Hokkaido Prefecture)
Shin-Fuji (Shizuoka)
Shin-Fujiwara
Nishi-Fujinomiya DONE
Nishi-Fujiwara DONE
Higashi-Fujishima DONE
Higashi-Fujiwara DONE