U.K. Ambassador to Japan Julia Longbottom Dedicates Tea to Shrine at Top of Mt. Fuji in Traditional Event

The Yomiuri Shimbun

13:45 JST, August 22, 2025

FUJINOMIYA, Shizuoka — British Ambassador to Japan Julia Longbottom recently climbed Mt. Fuji to dedicate tea produced in Fujinomiya, Shizuoka Prefecture, to a shrine at the top of the mountain in a traditional event.

Longbottom carried tea to the inner shrine of Fujisanhongu Sengentaisha shrine as part of the event, in which tea is served later. She took on the role at the proposal of the city, which has nurtured ties with Britain in memory of Rutherford Alcock, the first British diplomatic representative to Japan. Alcock was the first foreigner to climb the mountain, doing so in 1860.

On Aug. 2, Longbottom climbed the mountain with about 20 people including embassy staff members after receiving the tea to be dedicated from Fujinomiya Mayor Hidetada Sudo in front of the monument built at the fifth station of the Fujinomiya trail in memory of Alcock.

“It was a great honor to carry the tea. We want to further deepen the friendship between Britain and Fujinomiya that began with Alcock’s climbing Mt. Fuji,” Longbottom, who climbed the mountain for the first time, said in fluent Japanese.

The ambassador and her party offered the tea to the shrine on the evening of Aug. 2. They descended the mountain the following day after watching the sunrise from the summit.

The tea will be aged at the summit of the mountain. Some of it will then be transported to the British Embassy in Tokyo and served at a tea party.