Man "extreme" irons atop Mount Fuji

KAMAGAYA, Japan, Aug. 12 (UPI) -- A Japanese aficionado of the little-known, off-beat sport of extreme ironing has mastered Mount Fuji and now aspires to iron atop Mount Everest.

Hitoshi Matsuzawa, 38, an office worker from Kamagaya, successfully lugged his board, iron and a portable generator to Kengamine peak on Mount Fuji in July, the Mainichi Daily News reported Sunday.

Matsuzawa became hooked on most people see as a tongue-in-cheek sport while studying in Australia in 1998. Intrigued by an activity requiring people to take ironing boards to remote places and iron, Matsuzawa return to Japan to found Extreme Ironing Japan in 2004.

While extreme ironing lacks many followers in Japan, its adherents hold world competitions, said Matsuzawa, who aims someday to scale Mount Everest but is content for now to have ironed atop Mount Fuji.

"There was a therapeutic effect and sense of fulfillment of being on Japan's highest peak," he said.