Mt Fuji shows in full on about 138 mornings a year in Fuji City's 35-year count: around 20 days in December, but only 3 to 5 in June, July and August. To check today, open an official live camera first, then the JMA forecast. Go early: 8am beats the afternoon.
Mt Fuji is visible less often than the postcards suggest. Fuji City in Shizuoka has recorded the mountain every day since 1991, and across 35 years the whole of Fuji showed at 8am on only about 138 days a year. December averages about 20 clear mornings. July averages 3.
So to answer “is Mt Fuji visible today”, don’t trust a sunny forecast for the towns. Look at a live camera first, then the forecast for the summit area, and go early. The cameras, forecasts and month-by-month odds below are the ones we use for planning a day at Lake Yamanaka and the other Fuji Five Lakes.
These are run by a tourism body, a prefecture or a national ministry. Private webcams come and go; official ones are the safer bookmark. Lake Yamanaka and the Fuji Five Lakes are on the north side of the mountain, so the Yamanashi cameras show the view you will actually get there.
Checked October 2026.
| Camera | Run by | Viewpoint and side of Fuji | Link |
|---|---|---|---|
| Zekkei-kun, Panorama-dai (wide and telephoto) | Yamanakako Tourist Association | Panorama-dai lookout above Lake Yamanaka; north-east side | lake-yamanakako.com/zekkei |
| Mt Fuji Panoramic Ropeway summit deck (4K) | Ropeway operator (Fujikyu group) | Mt Tenjo above Lake Kawaguchiko; north side | mtfujiropeway.jp |
| Fujisan Watcher (7 cameras) | Yamanashi Tourism Organization | Lake Shoji, Fujigane, Shindo Pass, Lake Kawaguchiko, Fujiyoshida, Lake Yamanaka, Senen-Fuji; north and west | yamanashi-kankou.jp camera index |
| Mt Fuji Live View (in English) | Shizuoka Prefecture | Shimizu Port, Fujinomiya, Gotemba; south and east | pref.shizuoka.jp/fujisanview/english |
| Fuji Sabo Office cameras (12) | Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism | Mostly south, west and east slopes, plus Narusawa | cbr.mlit.go.jp/fujisabo/camera |
The Panorama-dai feed is the one to bookmark for Yamanaka. It streams through YouTube from the association’s page and may pause without notice. Shizuoka’s cameras photograph Fuji once a minute and keep a “365-Day Gallery” of past shots.
One caution: match the camera to where you are going. The Shizuoka and ministry cameras look at the mountain from the Shizuoka side, away from the lakes.
Checked October 2026.
| Source | What it tells you | Link |
|---|---|---|
| Japan Meteorological Agency (JMA), Yamanashi | Official forecast; the lakes are in the “Eastern and Fuji Five Lakes” area, with temperatures given for Kawaguchiko | jma.go.jp forecast |
| JMA forecast map, English | Same forecasts with English labels | jma.go.jp map (English) |
| JMA Himawari satellite | Where the cloud actually is right now | jma.go.jp Himawari (English) |
| JMA rain radar | Rain moving in over the next hour | jma.go.jp nowcast (English) |
| tenki.jp (Japan Weather Association), Yamanakako | Hour-by-hour forecast for the village, 3 days ahead, in Japanese | tenki.jp Yamanakako hourly |
| tenki.jp Mt Fuji | Mountain weather page, plus live readings from the summit station | tenki.jp Mt Fuji |
A forecast of “sunny” for Kawaguchiko is a forecast for a lakeside town at about 830 m. Fuji’s summit weather station sits at 3,775 m, nearly 3,000 m higher, and the mountain can be in cloud while the shore is bright.
Fuji City’s own records show this. Between May and September the city often logged a clear sky on the plain while the mountain was hidden; the gap is widest from June to August. In July, the city averages 13 clear mornings but only 3 with the whole of Fuji in view.
What works in practice:
Fuji City logs the mountain at 8am, noon and 4pm. Over 35 years, the whole of Fuji was visible on 36.6 percent of mornings, then 23.3 percent at noon and 22.5 percent at 4pm. In 2025, the mountain was fully visible at all three times on only 62 days.
So if you only have one shot, take it before 9am. A Tokyo day tour reaches the lakes around mid-morning; staying overnight gives you the dawn. That is the main reason to stay at Lake Yamanaka or somewhere near Mt Fuji rather than doing a day trip if seeing Fuji is the whole point.
The exception is sunset in winter. From mid-October to late February the sun sets onto Fuji’s summit as seen from Lake Yamanaka, which is Diamond Fuji. On a clear winter afternoon the light at the lake is worth waiting for.
The only month-by-month count with a stated method that we found comes from Fuji City, on the south side of the mountain. Nobody publishes an equivalent count for Lake Yamanaka, so treat these as the pattern, not a promise. The sunshine column is the Japan Meteorological Agency’s 1991-2020 average for its Yamanaka station at 992 m, which measures hours of bright sun at the lake, not whether Fuji’s top is clear.
| Month | Whole Fuji visible at 8am (Fuji City, avg days) | Share of mornings | Sunshine at Yamanaka (hours, JMA) |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 19 | 60% | 172 |
| February | 15 | 53% | 159 |
| March | 13 | 41% | 171 |
| April | 11 | 36% | 187 |
| May | 10 | 30% | 190 |
| June | 4 | 12% | 135 |
| July | 3 | 10% | 158 |
| August | 5 | 15% | 185 |
| September | 8 | 27% | 114 |
| October | 13 | 41% | 117 |
| November | 17 | 54% | 141 |
| December | 20 | 62% | 155 |
Fuji City, 1991 to 2025, observed by city staff at 8am. The city puts spring’s lower figures down to haze and September’s to the typhoon season.
Both sets of numbers point the same way. Late autumn and winter are the safe bet. Spring is a coin toss, often hazy even on sunny days. Summer is the long shot. For what each month brings beyond the odds (snow, flowers, festivals, crowds), see the best time to see Mt Fuji.
Lake Yamanaka is high and cool. JMA’s Yamanaka station averages a high of 4.0 °C and a low of -8.9 °C in January, and 26.6 °C and 16.8 °C in August. September (375 mm) and October (310 mm) are the wettest months; January and February the driest, at about 80 mm each. For the next three days, the tenki.jp hourly forecast for Yamanakako is the most local one.
If the morning camera shows Fuji, go straight to the water. Hirano and Nagaike on the north shore of Lake Yamanaka face the mountain across the lake, and Panorama-dai looks down on both. Our guide to the best views of Mt Fuji ranks the viewpoints by side, access and time of day.
If it’s grey, keep the day useful. Oshino Hakkai is 10 km from the lake and its spring ponds look fine under cloud. The Narusawa ice cave is underground anyway. And for a soak, note that Benifuji no Yu is closed until a planned March 2027; Ishiwari no Yu in Hirano is open.
Coming from Tokyo for one day? The cheapest way to stack the odds is to pick your date late, a day or two out, once the JMA weekly forecast looks settled. Our Mt Fuji day trip from Tokyo guide compares them, Tokyo to Mt Fuji covers the buses and trains, and all the tours we list are on the tours page.
10 hours - 1 day
The most-reviewed Fuji day trip that stops at the lake: the coach goes to Hirano Beach first for the morning reflection and the swans, then on to Oshino Hakkai, Oishi Park and the Chureito Pagoda.
from$49
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Starts the day on the north shore of Lake Yamanaka at Hirano Beach, where you can feed the swans, then works through Oshino Hakkai, the Lawson photo spot, Oishi Park and the pagoda at Arakurayama.
from$49
Check availability10 hours
The cheapest well-reviewed day trip from Tokyo, packing nine stops into one coach day, beginning with Fuji reflections at Hirano Beach on Lake Yamanaka and ending at the Chureito Pagoda.
from$30
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A nine-seat minivan version of the classic loop, leaving Tokyo Station at 07:30 or Shinjuku at 08:00 (hotel pickup optional) for Lake Yamanaka and Hirano Beach, Oshino Hakkai, Chureito Pagoda and Lake Kawaguchi.
from$68
Check availabilityPrices and ratings were taken from GetYourGuide and can change. Booking through these links supports this site at no extra cost to you.
Open a live camera before anything else. The Yamanakako Tourist Association streams Panorama-dai above Lake Yamanaka, and the Mt Fuji Panoramic Ropeway streams from Mt Tenjo above Kawaguchiko. If the summit is clear on the camera at breakfast, go now. Forecasts describe the sky over the towns, not whether cloud is sitting on a summit nearly 3,000 m above the lakes.
December and January. Fuji City, which has logged the mountain three times a day since 1991, saw the whole of Fuji at 8am on about 20 December mornings and 19 January mornings on average. November and February come next. July is the worst month, with about 3 clear mornings, and June and August are almost as poor.
Early morning. Across 35 years of Fuji City records, the whole mountain was visible at 8am on 36.6 percent of days, at noon on 23.3 percent and at 4pm on 22.5 percent. The city notes the view tends to get worse through the afternoon, so plan your Fuji views before lunch and save museums or onsen for later.
Yes, on a clear day. Lake Yamanaka sits on the north-east side of the mountain, and the tourism association calls it the closest of the Fuji Five Lakes to Fuji. The north shore at Nagaike and the Panorama-dai lookout give the classic views, with the lake in front and Fuji behind. In summer the mountain is often hidden by cloud.
It can be, if you plan for it. Oshino Hakkai's spring ponds, the Narusawa ice cave, Fuji-Q Highland and the lakeside walks still work under cloud. If you are choosing a single day from Tokyo, check the JMA forecast the evening before and a live camera on the morning of your trip, and keep a cloudy-day plan ready.
The best time to see Mt Fuji is November to February, when the whole mountain shows on 15 to 20 mornings a month in Fuji City's 35-year count.
The best place to see Mt Fuji is the north shore of Lake Yamanaka, where the mountain rises straight across the water, with Panorama-dai above it a close second.
Diamond Fuji is the moment the setting sun sits exactly on Mt Fuji's summit.
A Mt Fuji day trip from Tokyo takes about 10 hours, with roughly four of them on the road.