Mount Fuji: A Barometer of Tokyo’s Air Quality

Eternal icon of Japan, Mount Fuji watches over Tokyo from the horizon. A symbol of purity and harmony, it long remained invisible, hidden behind haze and pollution. Its return to the Tokyo sky tells another story, that of a metropolis learning to breathe again.

Catching sight of Mount Fuji from Tokyo is far from easy. Even when the sky seems perfectly clear, the mountain often hides behind a faint veil, as if choosing its own moments to appear. It can be seen roughly seventy days a year, mostly in winter, when the cold, dry air clears the horizon.
At dawn, around eight o’clock, its perfect silhouette rises above the skyscrapers, bathed in soft pink light. At dusk, its snow-capped peak glows orange before fading into the clouds. These fleeting moments have become a quiet ritual for Tokyoites, who look for it from their trains or office windows. Seeing Fuji feels a little like receiving a blessing from the sky.

In the 1960s, this sight was nearly a memory. Rapid industrialization had plunged Tokyo into a fog of fine particles and sulfur dioxide. Fuji had vanished, swallowed by pollution. It took several decades for the capital to regain its blue sky. From the 1970s onward, the city launched an ambitious anti-pollution campaign: energy transition, strict regulations, and a gradual ban on diesel vehicles. The « Say No to Diesel Vehicles » campaign of the late 1990s marked a turning point. Sensors were installed to monitor vehicle emissions, and companies were encouraged to adopt cleaner technologies. Gradually, the gray haze lifted, and Fuji reappeared.

Today, the Zero Emissions Tokyo Strategy continues that commitment toward carbon neutrality. From the Shinjuku Observatory or Cape Inamuragasaki in Kamakura, Mount Fuji once again reveals itself to those who lift their gaze. In a city of fourteen million residents, where public transport is clean and quiet, every glimpse of the mountain is a reminder that the beauty of a horizon depends on the air we breathe. And in Japan, protecting the purity of the sky is also a way of honoring the mountain that mirrors it.

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