Hall Stories: My Mt Fuji Night Climb Chapter

Mt Fuji, Japan’s highest and most sacred mountain. Along with cherry blossoms, the bullet train and Hello Kitty, it’s one of the country’s most recognisable icons.

Yet while a great many tourists see Mt Fuji from a train window as they speed between Tokyo and Kyoto, it’s only when you’ve climbed it and seen the spectacular sunrise from its summit that you can truly appreciate the scale and significance of the mountain.

In this standalone version of a chapter from his forthcoming book, 'Hall Stories: My Offbeat World Travel Experiences', join Nick Hall as he attempts to conquer Mt Fuji. Woefully ill equipped to make such an arduous ascent, with his physical fitness put to shame by the sprightly Japanese senior citizens who keep overtaking him, the challenge is on to make it to the top before daybreak.

This being Japan, though, it turns out to be no ordinary night climb, and Nick encounters various oddities you wouldn’t expect to find on a mountain.

Seen through the eyes of a seasoned traveller, and full of little known facts about Mt Fuji and Japan, 'Hall Stories: My Mt Fuji Night Climb Chapter' is an offbeat look at one of the quintessential Japan tourist experiences.