High and low

From the shores of Japan's deepest bay, gorgeous blue-hued views of the nation's highest point abound. The 12,388-foot Mount Fuji rises just 15 miles or so from the edge of Suruga Bay, which measures 8,200 feet deep. In the mid-1800s, the traditional printmaker Hiroshige made deft use of Prussian blue pigment—then a fairly new sensation in Japan—to immortalize a similar view from Suruga Bay via woodblock prints. One thing you won't see in the old prints: distinctive barrel-shaped concrete breakwaters, which keep Suruga's rough waves at bay.