52 Fujis #32 - Fujioka (Tochigi)

You remember the other Fujioka? The one in Shizuoka prefecture?
I was all happy when I went there because it had the same kanji as the mountain. This Fujioka doesn’t - it has the (more common) kanji for wisteria. Apart from that one minor detail, however, my experience here was not at all unlike my experience in Shizuoka…

Tochigi’s Fujioka seemed to have been left behind by the inhabitants, much like the city of Boulder, Colorado in Stephen King’s The Stand. I’m not exaggerating when I say that I felt more than a teensy bit frightened wandering through the streets. Perhaps because I was reading The Stand at the time and I couldn’t help but imagine dead bodies in rocking chairs, on beds, in baths, slumped against the kitchen sink, sat atop the crapper and each and every single one of them in various puffy, bloated stages of decay. The place was as empty as get out, if that in and of itself is not an oxymoron.

I was most surprised by the number of older, more traditional buildings that pretty much outnumbered their modern equivalents. Probably has something to do with an aging population – the young ‘uns have all scarpered to Tokyo for the heady high octane mix of overcrowded trains, overcrowded streets, overcrowded housing, overcrowded shops and um, crushing summer heat. If they were still around, maybe they would have bulldozed the house Grandpappy was born in & built themselves something shinier.

I ate lunch in a playground that had obviously been built by someone who knew someone else who had a fair amount of concrete to use up before it went off. It’s also likely that the first someone has an interest in prisons. Atop twin concrete pyramids rested 4 poles providing support for a network of chains stretched between them all, linked up to a central observation tower where whichever kid was playing the prison guard at that moment could take potshots at whichever kid was being the escaping convict. There was even a maze to add that frisson of excitement that you can only get when you’re lost & a man with a uniform and a rifle is shooting at you. I’m sure you all know what I mean.

I spend rather too much time wondering about playgrounds in Japan; I’m not sure if they’re stranger than playgrounds back home. I’m also not sure if they’re designed by people who hate kids, love kids, or people who take lots of drugs, watch lots of kids’ TV and then put pen to paper – or if it’s a combination of all three. Playgrounds can be pretty tripped out places at the best of times…
Fujis remaining : 20
More pics at Flickr: Fujioka.

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Monday, August 25th, 2008 52 Fujis, Japan, Japanese Culture, Trains Trackback URL for this entry