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Virtual caches are great. I wish they allow more to be set. I've visited a few but my two most memorable were in Japan. One was at the top of the tallest mountain in Japan (Mt Fuji of course) and the other was a the "lowest" mountain in Japan (Tenppozan). The latter we had to walk downhill to get to the summit. sweatdrop

GC7AA7 - visited July 28, 2006 - goal: count rest stations and email photo at the summit
http://www.geocaching.com/seek/cache_details.aspx?guid=442c2407-66a8-4f61-b983-e4f9d631aa11


GCHJCN - visited July 27, 2009 - goal: take pic of stone triangulation marker at "summit"
http://www.geocaching.com/seek/cache_details.aspx?guid=8a82eadd-8525-49b9-b9bd-d3d45bae0bbc

True but some places are impossible to hide a physical cache in, such as the top of Mt Fuji which is just bare rock and a couple buildings (shrine, mini post office and cafe). Add to that the fact that it is a minimum of a six hour climb to the top for a strong person (not counting drive time to the starting point).

As for the Tenppozan cache (and similar locations) the Japanese are notorious for cleaning up their neighborhood parks and throwing away anything that doesn't belong including cache containers. I had one a a park near my in-laws' house in Itami and it didn't last a month before it disappeared due to muggles.

Aside from forest covered mountains the only way for an urban cache to survive is by using a magnetic key case hidden under a stairway or behind a vending machine.