Perhaps you missed Mountain Day on August 11, the most recent Japanese holiday designed to accompany Marine Day and Greenery Day. If you noted it, perhaps it made you think of the iconic Mt. Fuji, or Fuji San (no, Fuji San does not mean Mr. Fuji – this “san” is another reading for “yama” which means mountain ?).
300,000 people a year trudge to the 12,388-foot peak to see the view, watch the sunrise, fulfill a dream or just to say they’ve done it. What better way to prove you’ve scaled the sacred mountain than to send a good old-fashioned postcard? The coveted snail-mail postmark is a tangible and official commemoration of the five- to six-hour climb. In a summer, around 8,000 pieces of mail are sent from the summit post office each week!
That’s a boon for the faltering Japanese postal service, but how do you get that much mail down the mountainside? Why, a bulldozer, of course.
The huge earthmover, excuse me, mail mover, makes the trek three to four times a week, through clouds, through snow, and around hairpin turns.
I wonder if it stops to send a post card…
