Year 2014 to 2015

For me, 2014 was very busy year.

A summit of Mt. Fuji from helicopter

This year, I saw many aspects of this volcano. I worked for this volcano.

A summit of Mt. Fuji from Nanamagari parking lot of Fujinomiya (in Shizuoka) route.

Sometimes I saw it from Shizuoka prefecture, but mostly from Yamanashi prefecture as I worked for a Yamanashi prefectural government in Japan.

Mountain hut on the slope of Mt. Fuji. Many people visit and climb up to the summit of this mountain.

My work is to think about how to mitigate disasters of volcanic eruption around Mt. Fuji. So we searched evacuation route everywhere on the slope of volcano.

Lava tree with a professor of Akita University.

Our work is to educate people around volcano.  So there  were many events to show volcanic features of nature and give lectures. I met many people and many mysterious places of Mt. Fuji.

Amusement park of Gaspard et Lisa.

Mt. Fuji is a popular touristic spot in Japan. So there are many parks and sightseeing places around. Gaspard et Lisa is a book for children originally in French. These rabbits are so cute. I sometimes visit this park because it is free to enter.

Big things for me in 2014 are firstly, a visit of Hawaii in the end of September.

Mouna Loa from the parking lot of Jagger Museum.

I wanted to visit my boyfriend and my field in Kilauea, but I couldn't visit in 2013. So it has been one and a half years since I left Hawaii. I was very happy to enter the ocean as it was not so easy to get to the coast in Japan.

Kailua coast in Oahu Island.

I was very happy to float on the ocean. However, there were lava flow approaching to the residential area of Pahoa, in Big Island. Finally, this lava flow reached a house in November.

In Hawaii, I had a heartwarming dinner with my boyfriend's family. I thought like that his family is my family. It was wonderful evening. Just after I returned to my hotel, I got a call from my mother telling me a disaster of Ontake volcano.
So, one of the biggest things is an eruption of Ontake volcano. This makes me so sad, while at the same time, it made my motivation to work for disaster mitigation research.

Mt. Fuji from Kawaguchiko (lake).

I wish year 2015 would be a peaceful and nice year for everybody!!

Happy New Year

Mount Fuji Area, Introduction

Actually, I moved from Nagoya to Fuji-yoshida in April, 2014. I started to work as a researcher at Mount Fuji Research Institute of Yanamashi Prefecture, Japan. I have been very busy since I moved to Mt. Fuji area and I have not reported yet about this region.

Mt. Fuji from from the coast of Lake Kawaguchi-ko.

Mt. Fuji from a shrine gate "Kanadorii"

Our institute is at the north foot of Mt. Fuji. So I live in the town in the north region. Near my house, we can see Mt. Fuji from everywhere. One example is from "Kanadorii" which is a gate of the shrine "Sengen-jinja".

Mt. Fuji from a family restaurant "Gusto".

I often go to a family restaurant to have a breakfast (as it is cheap and I can read a newspaper there). From the restaurant, I can see Mt. Fuji so well.

Mt. Fuji from the 5th station in the end of April.

Mt. Fuji from the parking lot of 5th station in the beginning of July.

Mt. Fuji is often painted with snow on top,but it melts in summer.You can see the difference in scenery  of April and July.

Volcanic ejecta found around 4th station of Mt. Fuji.

I would like to add one comment that Mt. Fuji is a volcano. It's recent activity was in 1707 and the seismic activity was detected in the deep side of the mountain around 2000. So this mountain still has a possibility to erupt (active volcano!). This is a reason why we, volcanologists are employed to study volcanic activity of Mt. Fuji.