On January 21, 2025 (Japan time: January 22), baseball history was made. Ichiro Suzuki (51), who starred for the Seattle Mariners and other teams, was inducted into the National Baseball Hall of Fame in his first year of eligibility. He is the first Japanese player ever to receive this honor, and the first player from Asia to enter Cooperstown.
Mount Fuji is not merely Japan’s highest mountain. Revered since ancient times and a wellspring of artistic inspiration, it was inscribed on UNESCO’s World Cultural Heritage list in 2013 as “Fujisan, sacred place and source of artistic inspiration.” Drawn by its universal value and easy access from the Tokyo metropolitan area, visitors from Japan and abroad have flocked there in great numbers.