The view of Mt. Fuji from Fuji-shi is absolutely amazing. If you exit the station and head north on the main road, it points exactly towards the summit, and you have a beautiful view of Mt. Fuji all year round, assuming it isn’t too cloudy or hazy. Recently though, the air quality in Fuji-shi has been getting worse, mostly due to the large number of paper mills that have been built in the area. Evidently paper-production requires very clean water, and the water off the slopes of Mt. Fuji is some of the best. Unfortunately though, paper production burns the left-over sludge to cut energy losses, and the smoke is very dirty, polluting the air.

Also, 40 minutes in Nagoya isn’t enough to see anything! If nothing else, you should have stayed long enough to tour Nagoya-jo, which is famous for the kin-shachi on its roof. (And also has an exquisite collection of antique swords in the museum.) If you had a whole day or more, I would also suggest seeing Meiji-mura, about an hour’s drive north of Nagoya. They have many original Meiji-era buildings from Tokyo that have been taken apart and reconstructed peice-by-peice, including the original Imperial Hotel, the first western-style hotel in Japan.

I don’t think I will stay that long in Nagoya though and will save that for next time…