TOKYO - AFP  -
 From the window of his downtown Tokyo office, Heita Kawakatsu has a clear view of the perfectly-formed cone of Mount Fuji, around 100 kilometres (70 miles) away — which was granted UNESCO World Heritage status on Saturday.
“I know that it is watching me,” says Kawakatsu, the governor of Shizuoka prefecture, in which around half of the mountain sits.
Like the Pyramids in Egypt, the Great Wall of China or the United States’ Statue of Liberty, Japan’s Mount Fuji is a national symbol, visual shorthand for its home country.
And after a meeting in Cambodia, the world’s most recognisable volcano has now joined the other global landmarks to be recognised by the United Nations Educational, Cultural and Scientific Organisation (UNESCO) as a World Heritage Site. The mountain and its surrounding countryside, including several lakes, stretching over an area of around 70,000 hectares (170,000 acres) were nominated for its significance to the fabric of Japan. “It is one of the most beautiful things on Earth,” says Kawakatsu. “Fuji is a masterpiece of nature, and yet it was included as cultural heritage.”