Shizuoka Prefecture

(July 24, 2011) A person traveling by train from Tokyo to Kyoto or Osaka always hopes to get a glimpse of Mt Fuji some 45 minutes or so into the trip. The “hopes to get a glimpse” is because Fuji-san is often shrouded in clouds, but when it’s visible it’s beautiful. Mt Fuji is on the border between Shizuoka and Yamanashi Prefectures and both claim it, however, its peak appears on maps of Japan to be just inside Shizuoka Prefecture. In addition to Mt Fuji, Shizuoka Prefecture has much to offer tourists. Izu Peninsula along the Pacific Coast a half-hour by train from Tokyo is a popular destination from people from Tokyo because of its natural beauty, numerous hot springs, good sea food and history. In the 1600s, Izu Peninsula was home to shipwrecked Englishman Will Adams whose life in Japan was the basis to James Clavell’s novel Shogun. Shimoda, a small town at the tip of the peninsula was where Commodore Matthew Perry set anchor in 1854, thus opening Japan to outside trading for the first time in some 250 years. It was also home to America’s first diplomatic representative, Townsend Harris, before he moved his office to Yokohama. The old Tokaido Road that connected the old capital, Kyoto, and the east capital, Tokyo, for more than 200 years passed through Shizuoka Prefecture. However, for all it has to offer, Shizuoka Prefecture is said to be at the highest risk for a major earthquake of any prefecture in Japan. For well over a thousand years the prefecture has had a major earthquake every 100 to 150 years and experienced a 6.2 magnitude quake only a few days after the massive Sendai earthquake in March.