Fuji-Q Highland's roller coaster lineup reads like a catalog of engineering superlatives. Fujiyama, the park's signature ride, stands 79 meters tall and rockets through its course at 130 km/h. When it opened in 1996, it was the tallest roller coaster on Earth. It has since dropped to eleventh tallest and fourth longest, but riding it remains a visceral experience -- the first drop pitches you toward the ground with Mount Fuji filling your peripheral vision. Eejanaika, opened in 2006, is one of only three fourth-dimension roller coasters ever built. Its seats rotate 360 degrees in controlled spins independent of the track, producing fourteen inversions even though the track itself only inverts three times. Takabisha, which debuted in 2011, features a 121-degree beyond-vertical freefall and held the record for the world's steepest coaster until 2019. And Zokkon, the newest addition from 2023, is a motorcycle-style launched coaster -- proof the park has not stopped building.

Not every record at Fuji-Q Highland ended well. The Do-Dodonpa roller coaster once held the title for fastest acceleration of any coaster in the world, launching riders to terrifying speeds in a matter of seconds. But between December 2020 and August 2021, at least six visitors reported injuries while riding it. The complaints led to an investigation, and Do-Dodonpa was eventually shuttered permanently in 2024. The park's safety record took another blow on February 28, 2025, when a maintenance worker was fatally injured on the Eejanaika ride after being crushed between one of the trains and its track. Reports suggested the train had been unintentionally moved during maintenance, raising concerns about lapses in mandatory safety procedures. These incidents cast a shadow over a park that had built its identity on pushing the limits of what amusement rides could do.

Fuji-Q Highland is not all white-knuckle terror. Thomas Land, a dedicated area themed after Thomas the Tank Engine, occupies a cheerful corner of the park where the smallest visitors ride a gentle kiddie coaster that tops out at 17 km/h and stands less than a meter tall. Attractions themed around Gundam, Neon Genesis Evangelion, and Hamtaro cater to Japan's deep anime culture. The Haunted Hospital, billed as the world's largest haunted attraction, takes visitors through an elaborate horror scenario that lasts considerably longer than most coaster rides. Its companion, the Hopeless Fortress, is another fright-focused experience. The park also houses flat rides ranging from the Red Tower drop ride to the Tondemina giant frisbee, the same ride that appeared on Season 9 of The Amazing Race in 2006, when the final three teams searched for clues while being flung through the air.

What sets Fuji-Q Highland apart from every other amusement park on Earth is its neighbor. Mount Fuji, at 3,776 meters, is not just visible from the park -- it dominates the entire visual field, rising directly to the south like a wall of rock and snow. On clear days, the summit appears close enough to touch from the top of Fujiyama's first hill. The juxtaposition is uniquely Japanese: a symbol of timeless natural beauty paired with screaming mechanical excess, and somehow neither diminishes the other. The park is owned and operated by Fuji Kyuko Co., the same railway company that runs the Fuji Express Line, meaning that many visitors arrive by train, step off the platform, and walk straight into a park where the sacred mountain fills every gap between the steel. In the 1985 Jackie Chan film My Lucky Stars, the filmmakers set a criminal gang's headquarters beneath the park -- a choice that says something about Fuji-Q Highland's surreal, larger-than-life presence at the foot of Japan's most famous peak.