Fuji Speedway: oh, come on, it's not that bad!We  know  you  are  all  worried  about  leaving  good  old  Suzuka  to  come  to  Fuji  Speedway  which  lasthosted a grand prix three decades ago. You have heard horror stories about spending several hourson a coach with no toilet and that very annoying journalist who tells non-stop non-funny jokes. You areconcerned  about  spending  an  extra  four  hours  a  day  with  colleagues  you  don't  like  and  no  decentrestaurants in the evening.

But don't worry, because Fuji has lots of good points. Suzuka has a fairground with a big Ferris wheel,while Fuji is a holy mountain which is the most painted and photographed in the world. On the downside, Fuji, which is a dormant volcano, has erupted over 75 times in the last 2,200 years, but not at allin the last 300 years. You could therefore suggest a big bang is imminent, which is why Mount Fuji isthe most closely watched volcano in the world.

Suzuka has several shops and even a French-style bakery. Climb to the top of Mount Fuji and you willfind a Post Office, but it's only open in the summer. If you do plan to climb the mountain while we arethere, then this is not a bad time to do it, as in summer, it turns into a less sanitised version of wellknown  theme  parks,  with  queues  forming  to  reach  the  summit.  But  bear  in  mind  this  often  quotedcliché,  "Mount  Fuji  makes  its  own  weather"  and  if  you  have  ever  been  to  a  dinner  party  where  thehostess has "made her own bread" you know how dangerous anything home-made can be. The onlything you can be sure of is that it will be colder and wetter than Suzuka. But whereas Suzuka is a justan  industrial  town,  Mount  Fuji  is  a  place  of  pilgrimage  for  followers  of  both  Shinto  and  Buddhism.Unlike  many  religions  that  attach  significance  to  mountains,  its  followers  are  actively  encouraged  toclimb  Mt.  Fuji  and  the  resultant  people  pollution  has  led  to  the  mountain  being  denied  UNESCOrecognition  as  a  World  Heritage  Site.  For  many  centuries  it  was  forbidden  for  women  to  climb  themountain, which may inadvertently have led to this pollution, as there would have been no one aroundto shout, "Oy! Pick up those plastic bags. You're not going out until this volcano is tidy. This mountainis a pigsty!"

At the moment, Mount Fuji is the tallest mountain in the Japan, but there is a threat to its height statusfrom  something  called  "X-Seed  4000,"  a  man  made  building  in  the  shape  of  Fuji  but  around  300metres taller, designed to house between 500,000 and one million people on 800 floors. Apparently,the  technology  already  exists  to  build  this  Japanese  monster  at  a  cost  of  several  hundred  billiondollars,  but  please  don't  show  the  plans  to  any  F1  team  bosses  as  it  will  give  them  ideas  for  evencrazier factories and paddock hospitality units.

Naturally, as one of Japan's most famous landmark, many Haikus have been written about Mount Fuji.What is a haiku? It is a Japanese poetic form made up of 17 syllables in three lines that do not rhymecontaining 5 syllables in line one, 7 in line 2 and 5 again in line three. For example:Falling mist…-The day when Mt Fuji is unseen - Most fascinatingLet's hope the circuit designers have done their job, otherwise this one might be more appropriate forthe weekend:  Fuji Volcano - Asleep for some centuries - Just like F1 fan