Now You Can Climb Mount Fuji Virtually, Thanks to Google

Records show that approximately 300,000 people climbed Mount Fuji in 2009. Right now, "Fuji san" as the locals call it, is probably getting pretty crowded.  That's because the most popular months for people to make the hike up Japan's tallest mountain are during precisely this time of year, July and August, while various facilities to assist and support climbers are in operation.

Climbing from October to May is strongly discouraged due to the high probability of severely cold weather, which causes accidents and failed attempts that can even cost climbers their lives. Most Japanese climb the mountain during the night in order to be in a favorable position at or near the summit to see the sun rise. The morning light is called 御来光 goraikō, meaning arrival of light. 

If you have never seen Mt. Fuji for yourself, it's an incredible sight. You should go see it!  As for climbing to the top (its elevation is 12,389 feet), I don't think I'll do that. I'm quite happy to admire it from a distance.  But I have wondered what the view is like once you're up there. For those of us who are content to be virtual adventurers, at least when it comes to climbing mountains, Google has the solution. With new Street View imagery of Mount Fuji, we can now open our laptops, navigate to Google Earth and see for ourselves how trekkers make their way step by step up this majestic mountain.  And if you do decide to go yourself one day, Google can provide help by giving you this glimpse of what lies ahead so you can make adequate preparations.

Mount Fuji was named in June an official World Heritage Site by UNESCO. Officials expect that as a result of this honor, a record number of climbers will be attracted to the mountain this year.  If Google was looking for a good a reason to document the journey up Mount Fuji, this was it - and so it sent its Street View Trekker equipment on the back of a team member to accomplish the task.

To check out for yourself the route that travels up the active volcano, click here.

"The Street View collection covers the highly popular follows the highly popular Yoshida trail that takes hikers up the mountain, the full walk around the crater at the top, and the quick zigzag descent," Setsuo Murai, head of Geo Partnerships for Google Japan, wrote on the company's official blog."We hope these 14,000 panos of new imagery will give climbers a sense of the terrain to expect under their feet — especially all the night-time climbers who shuffle up in the dark to see the sunrise at the crack of dawn."

Take a look at this interesting video posted to You Tube.  

In case you're curious about the reactions of Japanese people think of Google's achievement, here are some comments in response to the You Tube video mentioned above, that we translated for you.

• お疲れ様です(^^)  /  Otsukaresama desu! / "It is good work!"
• お疲れさまでした！ ストリートビュー見ました。素晴らしいです。これぞまさに情報革­命。/ Otsukaresama deshita! Street view mimashita. Subarashii desu. Kore zo masa ni joho kakumei.  / Thanks for your good work! I looked at the Street View. Wonderful! This is absolutely the information revolution!
• googleさんすごい！！ / google san sugoi! / "Google, way to go!" 

If you are interested in learning more, there are many sources of information online. Getting started is as easy as opening your favorite search engine and typing in Mount Fuji.