52 Fujis #21 - Fujino

Fujino tries really hard, it does. But we all know that that process, while noble, doesn’t always guarantee success. Fujino is apparently held back from industrialized progress owing to its unique position beside Lake Sagami. While this means that the landscape is relatively natural (in that Japanese way, whereby whole hillsides somehow end up covered in weird concrete nipples) it also means that Fujino isn’t rolling in cash. Big surprise if you’ve ever been anywhere considered rural in Japan. Fujino decided not to build a stupid museum to something idiotic like so many other rural communities in Japan. They went for something a tad more upmarket; like Hakone in Shizuoka, they decided they should be an art resort.

You see, just like Hakone in Shizuoka, its not far from Fujino to Tokyo, making it, one would assume, a logical place for urbanites in dire need of a break to visit. And what better way to sway their votes than to reinvent your town as an art resort?

Hmmm. I always cringe when I hear the word ‘art’ in Japan. This is the country where everything has to fit a predefined notion chosen for it by some shadowy clique somewhere in a big office in Tokyo; that clique who decided things like the JR East stations where bird song plays continuously, despite there being anti-pigeon proofing on every flat surface. Wildlife on our terms, by jingo.

Likewise, art in Japan is generally tailored to be on someone else’s terms, someone who is in actual fact from another world, where the pinnacle of artistic endeavour is a big aluminum sign on a hillside, professing love for one’s fellow man -

or perhaps a robot made out of spare parts that has to be hidden off the main road in case he should frighten small children on school buses, who would scream really loudly, causing their bus driver to unexpectedly swerve the bus, which would plummet off the bridge, something that could only be considered a terrible thing to happen to a small, artistic community -

Art in Japan is what happens when bureaucrats are in charge of commissioning art. If you’d sent them to buy some, they’d have gone to a fleamarket and come back with that painting of the dogs playing poker, one of those Lilliput Lane miniatures, and that poster from the 80’s of the mechanic with fabulous abs carrying a tyre in each hand with his overalls pulled down to his waist. Then they’d open a gallery, and charge everyone to go and see the awesome art they’d assembled; when no-one did, they’d probably be surprised. No, shocked. And they’d blame everyone else for the lost revenue.

This seems to be the story behind the reinvention of Fujino as an art community. A story of a town trying to be something it’s not, in order to get something it doesn’t have - cash. Reinvention doesn’t work the same in real life as it does in the movies. When the nerdy girl takes her glasses off in those high school movies to reveal her dazzling beauty, its only a surprise to absolute muppets. In real life, the opposite is true, so that only muppets believe that Fujino has a realistic chance of reinventing itself as an art town. Maybe I’m being overly harsh here, but the town should really focus on the natural beauty side of things; its no prom queen, but quite the looker in its own funny way.

I walked across one bridge, up a hill, then down the other side, and back across a different bridge. I saw about three people on foot, and lots more in cars; according to my key source of information on Fujino (here), having a car is essential if you’re going to get around Fujino. Its that odd dichotomy of being stuck in the countryside - all this natural beauty, and you can’t help but pollute it. What wonderful creatures we are.

Back at the station, I had to wait for one of the trains out of there. I walked the length of the platform, took some photos & discovered some traditional graf -

- that made me wish I was Billy Joel. Only he could truly do The Ballad of Tommy & Feli justice.

Fujis remaining : 31
More pics at Flickr: Fujino.

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Saturday, March 24th, 2007 52 Fujis, Japan Trackback URL for this entry