IT'S WELL KNOWN THAT ANTI-DEPRESSANT MEDICATIONS LIKE PROZAC, XANAX AND ELAVIL ARE RATHER EXPENSIVE in the long run, and can carry rather unpleasant side effects which @ times have been known to include notorious episodes of anti-social behaviour.

So, if the following "WaiWai" item per the Mainichi Daily News can be taken as credible, it seems Prozac and kin have met their match--and try telling that to the so-called "Church of Scientology," themselves known to be rather critical of medication-based psychotherapy:

Mount Fuji has been sacred in Japan since ancient times, but now Asahi Geino (4/3) says simply looking at a photo of the country's most famous mountain can possibly cure depression.

Health magazine Sokai's May edition makes the claim that simply looking at photos of Mount Fuji is enough to ease worries, stave off depression and lead to improvements in existing conditions.

Sokai contains a photo essay from Rocky Tanaka, Japan's most famous photographer of Mount Fuji who has been snapping away at the national symbol as a job for decades.

"When I take a photo of Mount Fuji, I'm not just taking a photo of a mountain, but trying to capture an image of beauty in the same way as Mount Fuji was depicted in the old ukiyo-e drawings," Tanaka tells Asahi Geino. "That's why some people who see my photos of Mount Fuji start to feel good or there's an improvement in the atmosphere of the room where they've seen them."

Dr. Toshiaki Goto, head of the Yachimata Child Clinic in Yachimata. Chiba Prefecture, doesn't discount the possibility that Mount Fuji could wash away the blues.

"I won't flatly deny the suggestion. In fact, speaking generally, I'd say that there probably are some positive effects. Looking at a photo of the morning sun rising over Mount Fuji is likely to emit adrenalin through the body, which sparks the sympathetic nerves and provides motivation," the physician tells the lowbrow weekly. "Seeing a photo of the afternoon sun near Mount Fuji is like to emit a substance in the body called acetylcholine, which stimulates the para-sympathetic nerves and leaves the viewer with a feeling of relaxation."

Goto says it's quite possible Tanaka's photos of Mount Fuji could have healing properties.

"Tanaka's photos of Mount Fuji have a greater energy about them than most other shots of the same mountain, so there is an increased possibility that they have therapeutic effects," Goto says. "But I think looking at the actual Mount Fuji would be much more beneficial than simply seeing a photo of it."

Not everyone in the medical profession is as quick to back up the claim that mountains, or in this case Fujisan, can move faith.

"As a physician, I don't think it's possible to say that merely looking at a photo of Mount Fuji will clear any health problems," Dr. Kazuo Sakai of the Stress Care Hibiya Clinic in Tokyo tells Asahi Geino. "But I won't deny the possibility completely, either."

Come to think of it, you have to wonder if an even more beneficial approach to depression involving Mt. Fuji might involve climbing Japan's most sacred and symbolic peak--never mind the climbing season being limited, for the most part, to July and August because of weather extremes.

As for a possible American equivalent to the Mt. Fuji cure, Your Correspondent has to wonder if H.H. Bennett's famous photograph "Leaping the Chasm @ Stand Rock" could be equally therapeutic:

Or, for that matter, enough to recharge the giggle glands faster than a bottle of Thomas Cola ("I can't rave enough,/You will love the stuff,/Unless you hate the taste of kerosene!") served as an eye-opener.

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AND SPEAKING OF STAND ROCK, FOLKSIES, for years the dog-jump routine there for the benefit of Upper Dells tour boat guests would be concluded with the dog clutching a sign reading THANK YOU.

And which has inspired Your Correspondent to imagine all manner of possibilities in the vein of fantasy for the dog's concluding number involving the likes of a banner reading:

• CHEW MAIL POUCH TOBACCO
• WALL DRUG OF SOUTH DAKOTA
• SEE 7 STATES FROM ROCK CITY
• SEE RUBY FALLS AT LOOKOUT MOUNTAIN

--or, for that matter, posters featuring the current "hot" cartoon or movie characters of the hour, which, in the current instance, would have to include:

• Scooby-Doo
• SpongeBob Squarepants
• Dora the Explorer/Go Diego Go!
• Blue's Clues
• Bratz
• Pirates of the Caribbean
• Hannah Montana
• Foster's Home for Imaginary Friends
• High School Musical
• Family Guy (in particular Stewie Griffin)
• Dragonball-Z
• Fairly OddParents
• Avatar
• The Cheetah Girls
• Lizzie McGuire

...well, you get the general idea.