Series: "My Hometown" (Vol.1) -Fuji City, a great city having Mt. Fuji -

Mt. Fuji with orange (Special product of Fuji City)	Mt. Fuji with apricot trees
Early Morning, Fuji City with Mt. Fuji in the background	Mt. Fuji with fish boat
Special Thanks to Mr. Iwao Kusama, Safety and Environment Department of Fuji Plant, who provides these pictures taken by him.

According to the city hall of this town, the population of Fuji City in Shizuoka Prefecture is about 240,000, the number of households is about 80,000, and the area is 214 km2, making it a relatively large town. As differences in elevation exist across the town, one cannot talk about the climate unconditionally, but it is relatively warm and easy to live with. In addition, Fuji City is Japan's leading paper town, with a thriving paper making industry that produces more product than any other city (although this fact is not widely known). There are an amazing 72 companies operating 82 plants and producing 3.87 million tons of paper products (13% of the total for Japan) that are shipped all across Japan. Needless to say, the companies do not only keep on producing paper; they are also active in promoting the use of recycled paper. They appear to be making efforts towards a campaign that takes account of the environment. I found this out for the first time when I looked at the city's home page, but it appears that they are trying hard, and I was somewhat impressed by this. However, as there are many paper mills, there appear to be many visitors to Fuji City who are troubled by its characteristic odor. This is the city's fly in the ointment, so to speak.

The primary pride of this city (at least in the author's opinion) is that it lies at the foot of Mount Fuji, which symbolizes Japan, and due to its location at a low elevation, Mount Fuji when viewed from Fuji City is majestic and beautiful. In summer, this Mount Fuji is merely a large, black mountain, but in the winter, it is covered with snow and it shows its beautiful shape to us citizens. I have lived here for four years, but I still do not tire from seeing the mountain. The garbage problem is still rumored to exist, but I think the appearance of Mount Fuji is something that we can more than be proud of to the entire world. It is magnificent!
Now as I alluded to, the climate is very livable, but how about the environment? Maybe it is because the public transport infrastructure is not well developed here (I think), in fact I am not really sure why, but without a car, this town is very inconvenient. Maybe others feel the same way. The number of vehicles in Fuji City is 190,000. That's apparently an average of 2.3 per household (which is probably high). If that is the case, then I think a lot of exhaust gas must be discharged into the atmosphere, thereby polluting it. From this perspective, I don't think the town is such a good one. I hope the current situation can be rectified in the future.
Well in the above, I have tried to introduce the city of Fuji, but as I am not too knowledgeable regarding the city, I feel that I have not been able to convey its charm and appeal. If you like, please come and experience first hand the charm of this city with your own eyes.

Reported by Fumitoshi Asano, Fuji Plant

Holiday Pastime "Climbing Mt. Fuji"		Annual Festival in July "Fuji Festival"
Down Town at Night		Cherry Blossom Viewing Party in April
These photographs were downloaded from the "Fuji Photo Library" Web site published by the public relations and publicity department of Fuji City.