Last summer at age 66, Seiichi Kondo climbed Mount Fuji for the first time in his life. Friends warned it wouldn't be an easy expedition, and it wasn't. But conquering Japan's highest mountain was essential for what he was about to do next.
"There was a tremendous sense of accomplishment when I reached the top," said Kondo, the former chief of the Cultural Affairs Agency. "I could see all the way to Tokyo Skytree, and it reaffirmed my belief that Mount Fuji symbolizes the spirit of Japan and its culture."
A year later at a meeting of UNESCO's World Heritage Committee in Phnom Penh, held this June, Kondo was in the thick of convincing its members that Mount Fuji and the nearby Miho no Matsubara pine grove deserved its place on the prestigious list.