Qualla: Fuji Five Lakes: The View on the Thousand-Yen Note

Fuji Five Lakes: The View on the Thousand-Yen Note: Introduction

Mon, 16 Feb 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Batholith, Public domain. Reach into your pocket in Japan, pull out a thousand-yen note, and flip it over. The image of Mount Fuji reflected in still water comes from a photograph taken on May 2, 1935, by Okada Koyo at Lake Motosuko -- the deepest and westernmost of the Fuji Five Lakes. Okada climbed to the Nakanokura-touge mountain pass on the lake's northwestern shore, waited for the light, and captured a scene so perfectly composed that the Japanese government put it on their currency. Today, visitors still climb to the same spot and hold up the banknote to compare. The mountain has not moved. The lake has not changed. The Fuji Five Lakes region, known locally as Fujigoko, sits at roughly 1,000 meters above sea level on Mount Fuji's northern flank, and everything here -- the water, the land, the towns -- exists because the volcano shaped it.

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Image: Batholith | Public domain

Fuji Five Lakes: The View on the Thousand-Yen Note: Lava, Water, and the Making of Five Lakes

Mon, 16 Feb 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Chris Moore, Public domain. The five lakes did not exist before Mount Fuji made them. Ancient eruptions sent rivers of lava cascading down the mountain's northern slopes, damming rivers and pooling meltwater into basins that became lakes. Each one is distinct. Lake Yamanakako, the largest, sits at 980 meter...

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Image: Chris Moore | Public domain

Fuji Five Lakes: The View on the Thousand-Yen Note: Three Lakes, One Heartbeat

Mon, 16 Feb 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Σ64, CC BY-SA 3.0. Something strange connects three of the five lakes. Saiko, Shojiko, and Motosuko share the same surface elevation -- 900 meters above sea level -- and they hold that level with uncanny consistency. The reason lies underground. Subterranean waterways, carved through the porous vol...

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Image: Σ64 | CC BY-SA 3.0

Fuji Five Lakes: The View on the Thousand-Yen Note: A Thousand Meters of Living

Mon, 16 Feb 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Kaleko, Public domain. The Fuji Five Lakes region supports a population of about 100,000 people living in the shadow of the most famous mountain on Earth. Fujiyoshida, the principal city with roughly 54,000 residents, is famous throughout Japan for its thick, hand-made udon noodles -- a hearty style bo...

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Image: Kaleko | Public domain

Fuji Five Lakes: The View on the Thousand-Yen Note: The Mountain in the Mirror

Mon, 16 Feb 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Midori, CC BY 3.0. What draws people to the Fuji Five Lakes, more than the hot springs or the roller coasters or the noodles, is the view. Mount Fuji is visible from Tokyo on clear days, but from the Five Lakes, the mountain is not a distant silhouette -- it is the entire sky. Each lake offers a di...

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Image: Midori | CC BY 3.0