Mount Fuji

Mount Fuji or Fuji-san (富士山) is the highest mountain in Japan. With its 3776 it stands lonely on a plain, just 100 km from Tokyo. Mount Fuji is an active volcano that last erupted in 1707, leaving Tokyo at that time full of ashes.
Mount Fuji is also considered a Kami (God) in Shintoism and is often depicted in paintings and literature.
As it is rare to see mount Fuji very clearly it took me about 2 years of travelling to make a collection of nice views of Mount Fuji. For most Japanese people Mount Fuji is considered as shy as a lady. But when you see her, she blows your mind.

Cherry Blossom festival

Last month the Hanami (花見) festival was officially opened upon reporting the first cherry blossoms in Tokyo. This TV report is a nationwide sign to start travelling and looking for the hot spots with the most beautiful blossoms. The cherry blossoms or Sakura are considered the greatest of all blossoms. This Hanami festival takes about 1 months the period that all the blossoms over Japan have perished. But this is a month in which Japanese go crazy about Sakura. Special food is sold like sakura tofu and sakura ice cream, both are pink coloured of course. It is a time of crowds visiting sakura spot, resulting in traffic jams.
As beautiful as the flowers are so are the people visiting the flowers. People feel relaxed and open-hearted just like the blooming of a flower. Special tea ceremonies will be held and some people will put on their best traditional clothes for viewing these blossoms. No the girls are no geisha's! Just woman dressing in their spring kimono to enjoy the Hanami festival.