Summit of Mt. Futatsumori

This 1,086-meter peak on the Aomori-Akita border overlooks the core of the Shirakami Sanchi World Heritage Site, an 8,000-year-old beech forest ecosystem almost entirely free of human impact. From the summit you can see Mt. Kodake and Mt. Fujisato-Komagatake to the east, and the tallest peaks of the range to the northwest. On clear days the view extends west to the Sea of Japan and northeast to the distinctive cone of Mt. Iwaki. The alpine vegetation around the summit includes Erman's birch, Chishima bamboo grass, and an alpine variety of oak that rarely grows this far north.