XMS 105'11 (8): Geography ATT-Mount Fuji

A must-visit tourist attraction,an exceptionally well-known symbol of Japan,often depicted in arts and photography,Japan's higgest mountain at 3,776.24 meters - Mount Fuji.

Mount Fuji is located 100 kilometers southwest of Tokyo,Japan.The monthly average temperature at Mount Fuji's peak is always below freezing and annual temperature is -7.1^oC.

You may be wondering what kind of natural vegetation could be found on the mountain,or is there even vegetation on the mountain?

Well,Mount Fuji is a valuable place where vertical distributions of vegetation zones could be observed continuously.There is a mature and dense forest covering the lava plateau on its foot.And there are lakes dammed by lava flows,rivers,ponds and marshes fed by fast-flowing springs.

The rich variety of vegetation made the place an optimum habitat for about 160 species or a quater of the avian species in Japan,live there.37 mammal species make their habitat and a majority of medium-sized or larger mammals distributed in the mainland,Shikoku and Kyoshu live there too.Due to the limited amount of surface stream water available,the number of reptiles and amphibian species there is small.

Aokigahara Forest at the foot of Mount Fuji

Do you know that Mount Fuji

is located at the point where Eurasian Plate meets the Okhotsk and Philiphine plates
And during fedual times,the town of Gotemba was used by the sumurai as a wilderness remote training camp.

Where Mount Fuji is located

Fuji on a clear summer day. © 1996 Akio Takeshita

Mount Fuji is a real treasure,with its magnificent landscape and abundance of water located in rocks in the upper portion of the earth's crust in a liquid,solid or gaseous state or subterranean water.This enabled the development of a rich and distinctive culture.However,if these natural resources are overused and various socio-economic activities have a negative effect on Mount Fuji natural environment,it may be hard to restore them.
Here are some ways to conserve Mount Fuji :

Charging of fees to those who want to climb Mount Fuji are under consideration as a rising number of people are climbing the volcano.This may put a strain on the mountain's environment
Japanese families,students,environmental groups and corporate employees and foreign volunteers work to clean up the volcano as rubbish from food wrappers to old tires to human waste are found on the volcano
In early 1990s,the situation caused local citizens and environmental groups to seek protection for the volcano by petitioning to declare the volcano a World Heritage Site of United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO)
For sewage problems,bio toilets are installed along the route to the summit .the toilets use micro-organisms and cedar chips to break down human waste

*Cedar chips are made from barks of cedar trees*

You can help protect Mount Fuji by picking up trash on the volcano,use only the environmental friendly toilets and REMEMBER-- DO NOT LITTER! DO YOUR PART TO PROTECT MOUNT FUJI,SO YOU CAN ENJOY IT LONGER!