fuji kawaguchi hitsujiyama park mt fuji shiba-zakura

The Chūbu region (中部地方, Chūbu-chihō^?) is the central region of Honshū, Japan's main island. Chūbu has a population estimate of 21,886,324 as of 2008.

Chūbu, which means "central region", encompasses nine prefectures (ken): Aichi, Fukui, Gifu, Ishikawa, Nagano, Niigata, Shizuoka, Toyama, Yamanashi, and often Mie.

It is located directly between the Kantō region and the Kansai region and includes the major city of Nagoya as well as long Pacific and Sea of Japan coastlines, extensive mountain resorts, and Mount Fuji.

The region is the widest part of Honshū and the central part is characterized by high, rugged mountains. The Japanese Alps divide the country into the Pacific side, known as the front of Japan, or Omote-Nihon (表日本^?) sunny in winter, and the Sea of Japan side, or Ura-Nihon (裏日本^?), the back of Japan, snowy in winter.

Mount Fuji (富士山, Fuji-san^?, IPA: [ɸɯꜜdʑisaɴ] ( listen)) is the highest mountain in Japan located on Honshu Island at 3,776.24 m (12,389 ft). An active stratovolcano that last erupted in 1707–08, Mount Fuji lies about 100 kilometres (62 mi) south-west of Tokyo, and can be seen from there on a clear day. Mount Fuji's exceptionally symmetrical cone, which is snow-capped several months a year, is a well-known symbol of Japan and it is frequently depicted in art and photographs, as well as visited by sightseers and climbers. It is one of Japan's "Three Holy Mountains" (三霊山, Sanreizan^?) along with Mount Tate and Mount Haku.