Fujimi · 富士見 · the mornings Tokyo saw Fuji
Tokyo saw Mt. Fuji 22 mornings in 1965. In 2023, 170.
Since 1963 someone on the rooftop of a school in Kichijoji has looked west-south-west every morning at 9 and written down whether Mt. Fuji, 83 km away, was visible to the naked eye. Since 1894 the weather office in Kofu has written down the day the first snow appeared on the summit. This is both records, drawn as one mountain.
The mountain as a table — all 61 years
| Year | Fuji, mornings | Tokyo Tower, mornings | First snow | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1963 | 49 (under 100) | 41 | 10/10 | published table |
| 1964 | 40 (under 100) | 70 | 10/9 | published table |
| 1965 | 22 (under 100) | 77 | 9/26 | published table |
| 1966 | 26 (under 100) | 53 | 10/5 | published table |
| 1967 | 37 (under 100) | 36 | 10/8 | published table |
| 1968 | 40 (under 100) | 34 | 10/13 | published table |
| 1969 | 53 (under 100) | 29 | 10/23 | published table |
| 1970 | 46 (under 100) | 32 | 10/6 | published table |
| 1971 | 53 (under 100) | 43 | 10/5 | published table |
| 1972 | 64 (under 100) | 77 | 10/7 | published table |
| 1973 | 78 (under 100) | 73 | 9/7 | published table |
| 1974 | 61 (under 100) | 83 | 9/23 | published table |
| 1975 | 81 (under 100) | 103 | 10/14 | published table |
| 1976 | 58 (under 100) | 91 | 9/23 | published table |
| 1977 | 56 (under 100) | 96 | 10/5 | published table |
| 1978 | 63 (under 100) | 123 | 10/6 | published table |
| 1979 | 60 (under 100) | 102 | 10/13 | published table |
| 1980 | 75 (under 100) | 97 | 9/28 | published table |
| 1981 | 74 (under 100) | 116 | 9/13 | published table |
| 1982 | 68 (under 100) | 117 | 10/10 | published table |
| 1983 | 90 (under 100) | 110 | 10/1 | published table |
| 1984 | 67 (under 100) | 105 | 10/13 | published table |
| 1985 | 75 (under 100) | 110 | 10/14 | published table |
| 1986 | 77 (under 100) | 136 | 10/6 | published table |
| 1987 | 57 (under 100) | 125 | 10/12 | published table |
| 1988 | 89 (under 100) | 129 | 10/1 | published table |
| 1989 | 73 (under 100) | 155 | 9/24 | published table |
| 1990 | 59 (under 100) | 140 | 9/8 | published table |
| 1991 | 67 (under 100) | 106 | 10/14 | published table |
| 1992 | 77 (under 100) | 128 | 9/30 | published table |
| 1993 | 82 (under 100) | 159 | 9/24 | published table |
| 1994 | 78 (under 100) | 137 | 8/21 | digitised from chart |
| 1995 | 92 (under 100) | 123 | 10/9 | digitised from chart |
| 1996 | 76 (under 100) | 147 | 9/28 | digitised from chart |
| 1997 | 81 (under 100) | 147 | 9/28 | digitised from chart |
| 1998 | 72 (under 100) | 121 | 10/22 | digitised from chart |
| 1999 | 107 | 182 | 10/19 | digitised from chart |
| 2000 | 94 (under 100) | 168 | 9/4 | digitised from chart |
| 2001 | 95 (under 100) | 166 | 9/22 | digitised from chart |
| 2002 | 104 | 199 | 9/27 | digitised from chart |
| 2003 | 78 (under 100) | 214 | 10/6 | digitised from chart |
| 2004 | 106 | 243 | 10/21 | digitised from chart |
| 2005 | 85 (under 100) | 220 | 10/11 | digitised from chart |
| 2006 | 76 (under 100) | 195 | 10/7 | digitised from chart |
| 2007 | 97 (under 100) | 230 | 10/6 | digitised from chart |
| 2008 | 96 (under 100) | 244 | 8/9 | digitised from chart |
| 2009 | 101 | 247 | 10/7 | digitised from chart |
| 2010 | 115 | 280 | 9/25 | digitised from chart |
| 2011 | 131 | 283 | 9/24 | digitised from chart |
| 2012 | 126 | 303 | 9/12 | digitised from chart |
| 2013 | 123 | 295 | 10/19 | digitised from chart |
| 2014 | 138 | 270 | 10/16 | digitised from chart |
| 2015 | 121 | 257 | 10/11 | digitised from chart |
| 2016 | 116 | 268 | 10/26 | digitised from chart |
| 2017 | 135 | 289 | 10/23 | digitised from chart |
| 2018 | 135 | 300 | 9/26 | digitised from chart |
| 2019 | 122 | 288 | 10/22 | digitised from chart |
| 2020 | 131 | 290 | 9/28 | digitised from chart |
| 2021 | 155 | 302 | 9/26 | digitised from chart |
| 2022 | 140 | 318 | 9/30 | digitised from chart |
| 2023 | 170 | 329 | 10/5 | digitised from chart |
22 → 170
mornings Fuji was visible, 1965 → 2023
43 → 135
decade mean, 1963–72 → 2013–23; first year past 100 was 1999
Sep 23 → Oct 5
30-year mean first snow, 1894–1923 → 1996–2025; earliest Aug 9 2008, latest Nov 7 2024
When you'll see the postcard
Bars: the share of 9 a.m. mornings Fuji was visible from the Tokyo Metropolitan Government building, by month, FY1992–2025. Ticks: every first snow since 1894. The postcard is a winter morning.
How far the eye reaches
Every morning at 9 the observatory checks five landmarks in order of distance. Which one is the last you can see tells you how far the air is clear that day.
- 5 km高井戸清掃工場の煙突たかいど せいそうこうじょう の えんとつthe Takaido incinerator chimney
- 11 km新宿高層ビル群しんじゅく こうそう びるぐんthe Shinjuku high-rises
- 17 km東京タワーとうきょう たわーTokyo Tower· 329 mornings in 2023
- 50 km秩父連峰ちちぶ れんぽうthe Chichibu range· 109 mornings in 1993, the table's last year
- 83 km富士山ふじさんMt. Fuji· 170 mornings in 2023
Go and look: the Tokyo Metropolitan Government's observation deck is free, mornings beat afternoons, and December to February is about three mornings in five. Check this morning on the live camera →
Three ways to see
Sixty-one years of the count are one verb: 見えた, "was visible". Not "was looked at" and not "could be seen" — the mountain either showed itself that morning or it did not.
- 見るみるto look at — you choose to富士山を見る ふじさん を みる
- 見えるみえるto be visible — it shows itself, no choice involved富士山が見える ふじさん が みえる
- 見られるみられるto be able to see — you have the chance富士山が見られる ふじさん が みられる
Said politely, the sentence this whole page is: 今朝は富士山が見えました。 けさ は ふじさん が みえました — "Fuji was visible this morning."
I can see mountains over there from my window.
窓から向こうに山が見えます。
窓から向こうに山が見える。
Mt. Fuji is the tallest mountain in Japan.
富士山は日本一高い山です。
富士山は日本一高い山だよ。
Have you ever climbed Mt. Fuji?
富士山に登ったことがありますか。
富士山に登ったことがある?
The words of the page
- 富士山 ふじさん · Mt. Fuji
- 見える みえる · to be visible
- 初冠雪 はつかんせつ · first snowcap of the season
- 冠雪 かんせつ · a cap of snow
- 視程 してい · visibility (range)
- 澄む すむ · to be clear (of air, water)
- 目視 もくし · observation by eye
- 気象台 きしょうだい · weather observatory
- 観測 かんそく · observation
- 晴れ はれ · clear weather
Show the data
Where each number comes from
- 1963–1993, the published table. 宮下敦・内田信夫・倉茂好匡・湯本晋一 (1994)「成蹊気象観測所における視程観測について」天気 41(10): 711–716 — 第1表 gives monthly and annual counts; our transcription reproduces every printed 10-, 20- and 30-year total.
- 1994–2023, digitised. The observatory publishes a chart, not a table, for these years. We read marker positions off it; checked against the 31 tabled years, 28 land within 0.5 day and three (1970, 1972, 1973) are merged-marker misses where the two lines cross, so those come from the table. Every digitised row is labelled as such below and in the CSV. If Seikei supplies the table, these rows are replaced.
- Two rooftops. The Tokyo Metropolitan Government has counted from Tocho at 9 a.m. since FY1992 (and from the 36 m JMA building in Otemachi at 10 a.m. before that — a different sky, never compared). Its numbers are not Seikei's numbers; the year cards from 1994 on use Tocho's months and say so.
- First snow. Kofu Local Meteorological Observatory, by eye, 1894–2025; the date is the first cap after the summit's daily-mean temperature peaks, which is why the Sep 7 2021 sighting was revised to Sep 26. From the 2027 season the JMA judges it from analysed snow depth and says the two are not directly comparable, so this record ends at 2025.
- What the paper says causes it, quoted. The jump in 1973 follows the oil shock (64 mornings in 1972, 78 in 1973). The recovery after 1980 is not pollution alone; the paper names drying and heat-island circulation as candidates. Visibility worsens through the day, so the count is taken in the morning. Eastward targets are back-lit, so the Tower and Fuji counts are not directly comparable. This page adds no cause of its own.
Every year, with its source
| Year | Fuji | Tokyo Tower | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1963 | 49 | 41 | published table (天気 1994) |
| 1964 | 40 | 70 | published table (天気 1994) |
| 1965 | 22 | 77 | published table (天気 1994) |
| 1966 | 26 | 53 | published table (天気 1994) |
| 1967 | 37 | 36 | published table (天気 1994) |
| 1968 | 40 | 34 | published table (天気 1994) |
| 1969 | 53 | 29 | published table (天気 1994) |
| 1970 | 46 | 32 | published table (天気 1994) |
| 1971 | 53 | 43 | published table (天気 1994) |
| 1972 | 64 | 77 | published table (天気 1994) |
| 1973 | 78 | 73 | published table (天気 1994) |
| 1974 | 61 | 83 | published table (天気 1994) |
| 1975 | 81 | 103 | published table (天気 1994) |
| 1976 | 58 | 91 | published table (天気 1994) |
| 1977 | 56 | 96 | published table (天気 1994) |
| 1978 | 63 | 123 | published table (天気 1994) |
| 1979 | 60 | 102 | published table (天気 1994) |
| 1980 | 75 | 97 | published table (天気 1994) |
| 1981 | 74 | 116 | published table (天気 1994) |
| 1982 | 68 | 117 | published table (天気 1994) |
| 1983 | 90 | 110 | published table (天気 1994) |
| 1984 | 67 | 105 | published table (天気 1994) |
| 1985 | 75 | 110 | published table (天気 1994) |
| 1986 | 77 | 136 | published table (天気 1994) |
| 1987 | 57 | 125 | published table (天気 1994) |
| 1988 | 89 | 129 | published table (天気 1994) |
| 1989 | 73 | 155 | published table (天気 1994) |
| 1990 | 59 | 140 | published table (天気 1994) |
| 1991 | 67 | 106 | published table (天気 1994) |
| 1992 | 77 | 128 | published table (天気 1994) |
| 1993 | 82 | 159 | published table (天気 1994) |
| 1994 | 78 | 137 | digitised from the observatory chart |
| 1995 | 92 | 123 | digitised from the observatory chart |
| 1996 | 76 | 147 | digitised from the observatory chart |
| 1997 | 81 | 147 | digitised from the observatory chart |
| 1998 | 72 | 121 | digitised from the observatory chart |
| 1999 | 107 | 182 | digitised from the observatory chart |
| 2000 | 94 | 168 | digitised from the observatory chart |
| 2001 | 95 | 166 | digitised from the observatory chart |
| 2002 | 104 | 199 | digitised from the observatory chart |
| 2003 | 78 | 214 | digitised from the observatory chart |
| 2004 | 106 | 243 | digitised from the observatory chart |
| 2005 | 85 | 220 | digitised from the observatory chart |
| 2006 | 76 | 195 | digitised from the observatory chart |
| 2007 | 97 | 230 | digitised from the observatory chart |
| 2008 | 96 | 244 | digitised from the observatory chart |
| 2009 | 101 | 247 | digitised from the observatory chart |
| 2010 | 115 | 280 | digitised from the observatory chart |
| 2011 | 131 | 283 | digitised from the observatory chart |
| 2012 | 126 | 303 | digitised from the observatory chart |
| 2013 | 123 | 295 | digitised from the observatory chart |
| 2014 | 138 | 270 | digitised from the observatory chart |
| 2015 | 121 | 257 | digitised from the observatory chart |
| 2016 | 116 | 268 | digitised from the observatory chart |
| 2017 | 135 | 289 | digitised from the observatory chart |
| 2018 | 135 | 300 | digitised from the observatory chart |
| 2019 | 122 | 288 | digitised from the observatory chart |
| 2020 | 131 | 290 | digitised from the observatory chart |
| 2021 | 155 | 302 | digitised from the observatory chart |
| 2022 | 140 | 318 | digitised from the observatory chart |
| 2023 | 170 | 329 | digitised from the observatory chart |
Download every series as CSV ↓·the 1994 paper (PDF)·Kofu's first-snow table (PDF)·Tocho's monthly counts
加藤藤吉 began the observation; 三上岳彦 directs the observatory today; the Kofu observatory's staff dated every first snow by eye until 2025.
Sources: 宮下敦・内田信夫・倉茂好匡・湯本晋一 (1994)「成蹊気象観測所における視程観測について」天気 41(10): 711–716; the observatory's visibility page; 甲府地方気象台, 富士山・甲斐駒ヶ岳の初冠雪日, cross-checked against the JMA records page; 東京都環境局, 富士山が見えた日数.