Diamond Fuji wishes

to you

Happy Valentines Day!

I had a long break from this blog due to completing my PhD. While I have been looking forward to getting back to writing here, it has been a little harder than I thought to find the motivation. So I set a deadline to push myself back into the project and Valentine’s Day and the Diamond Fuji phenomena was the closest date and so here I am. I can't quiet believe it was two years ago that I first posted about Diamond Fuji.

I love the internet, for all sorts of reasons, but today I love it because of live cams. Yamanashi Prefecture have a camera set up in Nagaike Park on Lake Yamanaka, which is marked with the A in the picture below. The picture above is also from that location.

Thanks to that camera I was able to watch a Valentine's Day sunset and try my luck with seeing the diamond sun rays. Unfortunately I didn't see it, the camera loads up every two minutes and today that meant the moment before and the moment after. Although, as you can see from the still below that the sun is not quiet at the centre of the rim at the moment.

This a quick video made from the live cam stills of the Valentine's Day sunset as I saw it on my computer in Sydney. I had to down-res it quiet a bit so its probably a mass of pixels and very abstract. umm doesn't want to load here so I have uploaded to youtube. There is a nice Volcano Fuji moment after the sun goes below the rim.

There weren't many photographer out today- perhaps because of the threat of clouds and it being a work day. I only spotted one or two people moving about. I am looking forward to watching again on Saturday to see the crowds and hope for good weather and timing. Let me know if you are watching too.

I will be visiting all my regular blogs and commenting again. Here's to a productive, bright and sparkling 2013.

Diamond Fuji wishes

for your Valentines Day

The Lonely Planets guide to Hiking in Japan was my first point of contact about the craze of Fuji-viewing. Along with learning about nori-mono from this source, they also mentioned the Diamond Fuji phenomena:

For romantic spotters in Tokyo, 14 February (Valentine's Day) is the best day to see Fuji-san, 100kms away, with the sun going down directly behind its dish shaped peak. At the exact moment the sun dips behind the summit its rays appear as a giant diamond sitting on top of the mountain. The ultimate viewing point is from the top of the Ferris wheel at trendy Odaiba, but be warned, your planning and timing mist be better than good to spot this very special 'diamond Fuji' moment.

I didn't even try to see Fuji last Valentines Day as just about the whole of February was a consistent grey.

From youtube a series of shorts:
This one is of a Double Diamond (shot on the Red camera- resolution is amazing) rising sun with a reflection in one of the Lakes near the mountain, and this one of the sun setting by the same film makers at Lake Yamanaka; and finally another one from with a view from Tokyo city centre. The first one is the best to get a sense of what it must be like to see it.

This one is much lower resolution but it shows really well the sun setting exactly on the crest, the effect of the light and the view the mountain through the humidity and haze from Tokyo city.

Fujiyama Journal posted a beautiful shot yesterday with the snow covering the valley floor as well as the mountain down to the tree line.

Dear Fuji, my heart is broken that I wont see you this year, but I know you will be there waiting for me.