When you plant a seed, and then carefully nurture it for 25 years, there’s a chance it will turn into a towering tree reaching high into the canopy and protecting a world of creativity and precious interactions underneath.

Community.
Fuji Rock works hard to work with the local community and become a part of the fabric of Naeba through art work that remains up throughout the year like (Kids Land), Gonchan art work, Joe’s Garage. And each year, volunteers from far and wide turn out to construct the longest boardwalk in Japan,

There’s no doubt that Fuji Rock has benefitted the Naeba community and this year, a record number of locals and others guests (14,000) attended the pre-festival party on Thursday night. The event featured a “bono dori” performance, fireworks, and just a few speeches welcoming guests to a revered music festival with few comparisons in terms of cleanliness, outdoor setting, and good conduct.

Fuji Lore

Of course, building an incomparable music festival did not occur overnight, and it did not come easily. It came on the back’s of perhaps music’s “greatest generation,” artists whose careers stretch back to Woodstock and other protests such as the UK’s Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament (CND).

And here we honor contributions by bluesman John Mayall who played Fuji Rock on two occasions, and sending two sons Jason and Gaz to do much of the heavy lifting regarding logistics, programming, and art. His inspiration also led to the Field of Heaven, which caters to older musical forms and musicians, though the may not achieve the same number of streams or downloads.

Major laurels go to Smash and Fuji Rock founder, Masa Hideki, for first conceived the idea and funded it. He also crafted a musical festival that put the focus back on the people, and not the corporations or the management groups that dominate so many other festivals. The original rock rebel, much of what is good and pure about Fuji Rock can be attributed to Masa’s vision.

Art Work
Nearly every step on every path is dedicated with incredible art work made by local artisans. The work is organic, reusable, and mostly made from otherwise discarded materials. Few other festivals would care about how visitors travel from stage to stage, but at Fuji Rock, every walk or excursion is special treat.

If you look closely, there’s art in unexpected places, or art work behind the artwork. For example, just outside the festival near the storage containers are two important works by UK artist Dotmaster. While they are overlooked and unseen by many, they play an important role in the festival at a time when Glastonbury chose a fallow year, freeing up the Unfairground group to appear in Japan.

Blue Galaxy
The return of the stage was important as it proved an altar to music’s highest form: they vinyl record. With nothing more than two turntables and a very simple Pioneer mixer, some of the most solid, danceable beats were produced at this stage. For example, Ruby Flashman absolutely turned it out by dropping jungle music, while other stuck with cumbria, ska, and reggae.

And Jim West did more hours at the deck than anyone I have ever seen. Without Blue Galaxy, festival goers would be subject to ridiculously high BPM levels, and bass bombast, and overdriven tweeters coming from Red Marquee.

Turnstile
What can I say, this group which resembles a random mix of people from just about any high school in North America absolutely turned it out. And they waited until about 200 of their closest fans were able to get onstage before firing their confetti canons.