Don’t know what a 52 Fuji is? Check out this page.

And so the renaissance of the Fujis continued to co-exist with castles, a curious combination of former fortifications for feudal lords and fifty or so Fujis.

I had a few days off and planned a trip up to Matsumoto to visit the castle there, while working in a brief visit to another Fuji – Fujimi.

Sounded good – the characters mean Fuji View – and it seemed like there was a bit of hiking to be done, up a smallish peak with a ski resort on top.

I built in a contingency plan, just in case – I could always be back at the station to get one of the hourly trains out of town.

So it was that I set off for an adventure in Nagano in December. You might have expected snow. I did. However, while it was a bit chilly, there was none of the white stuff in evidence.

This was a blessing and a curse.

It meant that it was easy enough to wander about, but it also drove home the fact that I had arrived one whole day before the resorts opened for business. This meant that none of the shuttle buses I was planning on using for getting to the trailhead (or, if I felt lazy, the cable car up the slope instead) were actually running.

Ho-hum, thought I. I decided I’d see what the 2km walk to the trailhead was like. Was there anything exciting?

It was right beside a main road, and pretty miserable. There was nothing to see, except for the above dilapidation, a coffee shop, a cop shop & a massive DIY store. I ended up turning back; the siren’s call of my contingency plan winning out.

I didn’t even manage to see Fuji, although some posters at the station assured me it was possible.

As I waited for my train out of yet another weird Fuji in the middle of nowhere, I resolved to make sure every Fuji from that point on would involve doing something of interest. So I guess something good came out of all the aimless wandering after all…

FUJIS LEFT AT THE END OF DECEMBER 5th, 2019 : 22/59