My Close Encounter with Fuji-san

The trip to Mount Fuji (Fuji-san) from Tokyo took about 2 hours of driving. Fellow Srikandi (STF 1984-1988) Sabariah Mohd Yusof and her husband (and not to forget their two children) kind heartedly invited me to join them in the trip. We were lucky enough to capture the beautiful view of the so-called “poetic” mountain from Tokyo itself due to the clear and dry weather. The symmetrically perfect mountain was fully covered with snow, offering a stunning view from afar.

Fuji-san is accessible from all sides, 360 degree and 365 days a year. It can be assessed by all modes of transportation, by car, by train (via Hakone), or by public bus service (direct from Shinjuku Station, Tokyo). On daily basis, many private tour buses make entry to the ski-resort areas around the mountain, bringing tourists from all over the world.

It occurs to me the substantial economic benefits that a country could enjoy by developing a site as an international tourist attraction. Economically, tourism industry is one of the cost-efficient industries with wide industrial linkages (tour operator, public transportation, hotels, food providers, gas station, recreational providers, ski-rental, etc.). There is no fixed cost as the tourist attraction is supplied by nature. The variable cost will be in terms of maintaining and developing the surrounding area. The greater the number of tourists visiting the place, the lower will be the average total costs, easily achieving the economies of scale.

We entered Fuji-san from Lake Kawaguchi area, one of the famous 5 lakes near the mountain area. The surrounding area benefits substantially from the reputation of Fuji-san as a “must visit” tourist destination in Japan. There are various tourism services such as the Fuji-kyu Highland Entertainment Park, and the Kawaguchi Lake which offer various recreational activities such as boating and fishing. There are many nice and cozy restaurants near the lake area, where you can dine and enjoy the magnificent view of Mount Fuji. All sort of hotels are available, from 5-star hotels to budget motels, depending on your budget. The shops around the area have excellent collection of gifts and stationary items. The Japanese are crazy over onsen – public hot bath. A lot of such services can be found along the road side. I can also see several eco-tourism.

We went snow-boarding (snow bo-do (ha3x) in Japanese) at Fuji-ten Snow Resort. We met with people from Indonesia, China, some Caucasians, among others. What makes people from all over the world to take the efforts to have a real view of this mountain? Followings are my thoughts:

Accessibility - The most important factor in promoting a tourist destination is accessibility. You can have an outstanding tourism product, but if it is unaccessible, only the adveturous ones will step foot there.

Promotion – Mount Fuji is being promoted as one of the “must-visit” destinations in Japan. The effort to promote Mount Fuji as a tourist destination is a concerted effort by all parties – the Government, the private sectors and the Japanese people. There is a very close association between Japan and Mount Fuji.

Memorable service – There are many beautiful parks with clean public toilets around the area. For Muslims, this is important since it would be convenient for us to take ablution and perform solat in the park. Talking about Japan, there are vending machines selling cold and hot drinks everywhere, even on Mount Fuji itself! More importantly, in Japan, customer service is exceptional. The people are nice too. The nice experience of visiting Fuji-san is a pleasant experience that I will share with anyone who is visiting Japan.

Driving and Attitude

The news on road accident occupy the local newspapers in Malaysia almost everyday.

I ride on the bus to go to work everyday during my tenure in Japan. As I rode on the bus, I observed every single movement very closely. One aspect that triggered my interest in this context is how attitude relates to road safety.

In Japan, the bus services (as well as other modes of public transportation) are very efficient. More importantly, the people who provide the services serve “from their hearts”.

Japanese bus drivers are very friendly. I mean really friendly that I doubt you will find similar ones in Malaysia. Let me give you several examples.

As you board on the bus and pay for the ticket, the driver would say “thank you” (and if you know some Japanese, the thank you is much longer than any other languages that I know), give some bow and a smile.

When it’s the time to move (right on schedule), he’ll close the door, and the first thing that he would say is “We are moving now, please be careful”. The bus moves right on time, and if you are late and the door has already closed, not once that I saw that the bus driver will re-open the door. He has to ensure that he moves right on time so that he will arrive at the next stops right on time as well.

Many of the drivers are extra nice. Some even remind the passengers “we are moving now, please be careful” after each bus stop. What this means is that, the reminder is not just part of the required speech, but it comes from the driver's concern so that the passengers will be aware and careful whenever the bus starts to be in motion.

You can just imagine how careful he is when he drives since he is very concerned and keeps on reminding the passengers to be careful at all times.

Tell me if ever in your life riding on a public bus in Malaysia that you came across this little experience of mine? It is actually very difficult to hear the "macho" voice of the Malaysian bus drivers unless the drivers suddenly feel irritated and start babbling over the traffic jam or a slow vehicle in front of the bus.

The fact that the busses move right on time is a very critical factor and reflects the precision culture that the Japanese are well known of. Moving right on time would ensure that they do not have to rush to the next destinations, thus reducing the pressure on the drivers themselves. Once they feel less pressured, they are more alert, more relaxed and enjoy the tasks that they are doing. More importantly, they do not feel iritated over small matters.

No wonder road accident is a non-issue in Japan.