Since we were unable to book an excursion to see Mount Fuji from Tokyo, we are hopefully going to see it from this Shimizu…. hoping for sunshine☀️. As it turned out, it was beautiful pretty much all day.

Miya is our guide today. She says we are the first ship of the season in the port. 

There is a statue on either end of a bridge ….of a celestial maiden … An angel wearing a Celestial robe … no wings. There is a story that goes with it but too long to write here. It has to do with Mt Fuji..

Our first stop is a pine grove (part of the story)…one of the trees is 650 years old and survived the last eruption of Mt. Fuji.  The rest of the pine trees are in excess of 300 years old. It is UNESCO  world heritage site. 

Strawberries produced  in greenhouses built on rocks. As a result the heat created from the rocks make them eco friendly. Season is from December to June. The area covered by these greenhouses go in and on….. massive. They must feed all of Japan with strawberries.

The sea at this point is very deep…2500 metres. There are lots of tetrapods used along the shore to prevent more sand and shore being lost to the sea. The area is also known for green tea, mandarin oranges, wasabi, horseradish, Yamaha motors and musical instruments,  Susuki motors.

Sumpu (now Shizuoka city)Castle Park. The castle tower was build in 16th century by shogun but destroyed by fire…. twice. Now there is no castle… just gardens….extremely beautiful… wow! First shogunate …..Tokugawa Ieyasu 1549-1560…. Buried here. 

80% of Japanese are Shintoists but 80% are also Buddhists 

At the Sengen shrine there are actually 7 shrines. Torii gate is a kind of boundary between outside… (secular) world and sacred world. They are doing a 20 year makeover on these shrines so some structures were not visible. You can certainly see the difference between the buildings done and those not done.

Sake is very important in Shinto rituals …. Used as a sacred holy water. 

Shizuoka has a population of 700,000 is also declining. Most of homes are 2 stories (very few with garden) with few tall buildings. 

If temp is 16-17 C, clouds will form from the sea,usually covering Mt. Fuji but we are very lucky today. The mountain is totally exposed….. beautiful. Mija believes we brought luck with us.

Mt. Fuji is 3776 metres high…. more than 11,000 feet. Pictures don’t do it justice!