Mount Fuji Flyby
A Fine Wind on a Clear Morning
Tokyo, Japan. A metropolis that stretches out as far as the eye can see, and then some. The lights of the city illuminate the largest urban sprawl on the planet, which is impressive in its own right, but even wilder considering Tokyo’s been basically levelled two times in the last hundred years alone, and that isn’t even counting all the Godzillas! But we’re here to check out a different sleeping, fire-breathing monster.
Mount Fuji is a fantastic choice for a quick sightseeing flight since it’s nice and close to Tokyo, but on a clear day you can see it from most of the city and even up to 300km away! Today though, we’ve got just enough clouds to obscure it until we’re a bit closer. It’s a weird feeling though after our last trip through Sumatra, which was mostly jungle covered mountains, to see the expanse of city beneath us right up until the slopes of the mountains.
I took off a little earlier specifically to get some glamour shots of Mount Fuji in the morning light, since the snow would reflect the glow of the sky changing colour. As the clouds went from cotton candy pink to a soft yellow, I felt like I might’ve missed my shot. Don’t get me wrong - these are far and away the best and clearest shots I’ve got of Mount Fuji, I love that you can see the texture of the Hōei crater from the snow! An earlier flight didn’t produce any usable pictures because the game had turned off satellite ground imagery (Microsoft Flight Simulator 2020 can be a fickle mistress at times) But then, as we started to pass it, I saw the Sun rising in just the right spot to have it sitting atop Mount Fuji, shining over the region from the summit.
Because I love to procrastinate, I was looking at Hokusai’s One Hundred Views of Mount Fuji while writing this when one caught my eye. You probably know Hokusai’s Thirty-six Views of Mount Fuji, in particular the Great Wave off Kanagawa, but where 36 Chambers - I mean Thirty-six Views, is mostly set in real places, the collection in One Hundred Views has a stronger creative and mythic quality to it, scenes that are less based in reality, but more imaginative. So it struck a chord with me to see Fuji as a Mirror Stand with the great mountain holding the sun in the same spot as in my own screenshot. Mount Fuji is truly an inspiration to behold from any time or place.
As we continued on, passing over the Akaishi Mountains, also known as the Southern Japanese Alps, we got a great view of the valleys and the tops of some clouds from being high enough to get that shot of Fuji, and also because of our altitude. We passed over Nagoya shortly after, cleared the mountain range, and then turned north towards Kyoto.
Flying over Kyoto, you can see two distinct rectangles of green amid the city, and the contrast of Kyoto’s extreme density makes them stand out even more. So naturally, I dropped the Goose down for a closer look. Even though the structures and gates aren’t actually modelled, instead getting the standard AI-generated generic buildings, you can still make out the majesty of Nijō Castle on the left, and the Kyoto Imperial Palace on the right. When looking these up on Google Earth to find out what they were, I saw that across the street from the South Gate of the Imperial Palace was a 7-Eleven! Now Japan has a very different relationship to their 7-Elevens than we do in North America, but seeing one literally across the street from the Chrysanthemum Throne I can’t help but imagine the Emperor walking over for a pack of smokes at 4am, wearing a ratty kimono and geta. You know, just like we do over here!
With that, all that was left to do was follow the Yodo River to Osaka. That concludes this trip, I hope you enjoyed a look at Mount Fuji that was new and interesting, and thank you so much for reading!
-Shapelychops
