富士山 (ふじさん - fujisan) - Mount Fuji

At 3776m, 富士山 is the tallest of Japan's many mountains, a ponderously large active volcano that most people don't have much exposure to beyond the odd misty glimpse out the 新幹線 (しんかんせん - shinkansen) window. Nevertheless, its cultural impact is striking. Where "flower" means 桜 (さくら - sakura - cherry blossoms) to the Japanese, "mountain" means "富士山" - in fact, more than 135 smaller mountains in Japan have been named after it. It also has a starring role in endless books, poems, photographs, prints and paintings stretching back many hundreds of years - not to mention the back of the ¥1000 note - and I'd be very surprised if you weren't at least familiar with its shape. That's not enough for some people though - every year, tens of thousands of visitors get to know 富士山 personally during the July-August 登山 (とざん - tozan - mountain climbing) season. This time around, I was one of them.