Mt. Fuji; like Where's Waldo for adults, the Japanese

The first time I came to Tokyo was on a business trip when I was 23.  Our office was in a glass box high in a skyscraper and on my first nerve wracking day someone pulled me aside, pointed out the window, and said "On a clear day, you can see Mt. Fuji from here."  I looked out that window every morning and every evening for 2 weeks.  I saw fog.

Since then, I've lost count of the number of times and places that the phrase has been repeated.  I've made several trips to Tokyo in the last 10 years and have only seen the famed peak in photos.  At the top of Sunshine City in Ikebukuro, on a hill in Ome, from a bar in Ginza, on the roof of the Mori, and plenty of other places, people have signaled to where the mountain would be if only the seemingly mystical conditions for its appearance were met.  

We figured our best shot at it was the daytrip we had planned to Mt. Takao.  A lot of photographers go just to shoot the Fuj, so we waited for a day that the weather called for sun and boarded an early train.

You can imagine my excitement, when, about 3 stops before we arrived at Takaosanguchi, I glimpsed the thing between the buildings flying by the train window, looming in the sky.  I roused Ed from his magazine and frantically pointed, much to the amusement of the other passengers.  For once I wasn't at all embarrassed because seeing the mountain seems about as likely as seeing a unicorn.  And if that isn't something to spazz over I don't know what is.

Once we arrived and hiked up trail 6, past waterfalls and through a stream via a boulder path, the view was even better.  And when we climbed to a 2nd, higher peak, we saw it closer and were virtually a private audience.  Ed tried valliantly to capture it but without his hardcore camera gear it was tough.  I still think he did alright:

We leave Tokyo tomorrow.  We love this city, we've had a blast, and I'm sure we'll be back.  But I'm not sure when next I'll have this view.  I'm so glad I saw it at least once, its definitely one for the highlight reel.