• Tagged cherry blossoms, flowers, Japan, Mount Fuji, nature, Spring, wisteria, wisteria tunnels

If you’ve just been through the mother of all winters, then hang in there. Eventually, all the long hard winters give way to spring. We’ve looked at Europe, where gorgeous bluebells carpet the woods, but winter in Japan gives way to a cheerful springtime bonanza of cherry blossoms. There are also pathways among millions upon millions of exquisite blooms, wonderful hanging wisteria and wisteria tunnels that are like something out of a dream. We hope you like these photos of springtime in Japan. [34 Photos]

• Tagged active stratovolcano, Aokigahara, Aokigahara Forest, climbers, climbing, enivronment, erupt, forest, Fuji Five Lakes, haunted, Honshu Island, Japan, Mount Fuji, mountains, Mt. Fuji eruption, nature, nature disaster, Sea of Trees, Shizuoka prefecture, Special Place of Scenic Beauty, Suicide Forest, summit, volcano, volcanoes, World Heritage List, Yamanashi prefecture

We haven’t done much looking around at Japan, other than Nara Dreamland, the abandoned Disney knock-off amusement park, but now the experts are red-alert claiming that Mount Fuji volcano is about to erupt. Mathematical models created in September 2012 by the National Research Institute for Earth Science and Disaster Prevention suggested that the pressure in Mount Fuji’s magma chamber could be at 1.6 megapascals higher than it was in 1707. The media jumped on this to claim as meaning an eruption of Mt. Fuji was imminent. We’ll leave that for the scientists to decide because nothing can be done to stop a natural disaster. Meanwhile, Mount Fuji has applied to be a UNESCO World Cultural Heritage site. It’s been around in Japanese art since ancient times when samurai warriors trained at the base and women were forbidden from climbing to the sacred summit. Nowadays people travel from all over the world specifically to see this view; about 300,000 adventuresome souls climb to the summit annually. It’s thought Mount Fuji means “everlasting life.” Ironically at the northwest base of Fuji there are 14 sq miles (35-sq-km) that represent the opposite of life — the taking of life. Aokigahara Forest, also called the Sea of Trees, is infamous as a dense forest where troubled souls go to commit suicide. So we interrupt the scheduled panic and doomsday disaster news, to take in the beauty before it is allegedly destroyed in an eruption. Here’s the magnificent 12,389 ft (3,776.24 m ) Mount Fuji, one of Japan’s ‘Three Holy Mountains’ and the Suicide Forest. [46 Photos, 1 Video]

• Tagged abandoned, abandoned amusement park, abandoned theme park, adrenaline rush, architecture, art, defunct amusement park, haikyo, Japan, Nara Dreamland, ruins, transportation, urban exploration, urban explorers, urbex

In Japan, an amusement park ripping off Disneyland and Coney Island opened in 1961. By 2006, the theme park closed, it was all but a ghost town. The fun part exists due to Nara Dreamland being left abandoned but not demolished. Enter urban explorers armed with cameras and exploring the Japanese ruins, or haikyo. They took all the danger and adrenaline rush to bring us on an illegal tour via their awesome captures. Yes there is security. Yes it is illegal. Yes it is an abandoned amusement park. We love these pics! [65 Photos]