Don’t know what a 52 Fuji is? Check out this page.

Let me remind you that, when putting together my list of Fujis, past me wasn’t as thorough as current me would have been.

To be fair though, I think expecting past me to search for Fuji stations that began with a prefecture name would have been a bit much. Anyway, alakazam, alakazoo, look at the Fujis – no longer 52.

At least one of today’s 52 wasn’t on the original list, but they’re both in Fujioka, a little place in Gumma / Gunma prefecture. Gumma is north of Saitama, which is already north of Tokyo. It’s pretty much where the countryside starts to become actual countryside and not just “a ten minute walk to the nearest convenience store” countryside, which is what most Tokyoites call the countryside.

Having said that though, there are still buses and trains and people so it’s not total countryside… but pretty close.

After work one Saturday, I hopped on a train to Maebashi, Gumma’s prefectural capital, which would be the staging point for a day of adventure and excitement. Or at least something resembling those two things.

The two Fujiokas were within walking distance of one another, which was great because the train schedule was… fairly typical for these sorts of excursions. I’m sure you can imagine.

My day began at Gumma Fujioka, which can also be spelled Gunma, although this spelling difference wouldn’t have helped me notice the existence of this station back in the beginning. Gumma Fujioka was a pretty funky wee station. The building had that old school country station vibe, there were details in the architecture reflecting the wisteria from which the area takes its name. An auspicious start.

Off then I set to pretty much follow the tracks north to the second of the day’s Fujis – Kita-Fujioka, or North Fujioka, appropriately enough.

The route was not particularly eventful. A lot of fields, allowing for some nice views of the mountains in the distance. A high school. Some houses. Some great opportunities to focus the old style diesel trains that service the Hachiko line upon which these two stations are situated.

Just a pleasant Sunday constitutional in the Japanese countryside, really.

I arrived at Kita-Fujioka with time to spare before the next train, giving me ample time to soak up the ambience of this great example of rural station chic: unmanned, a tiny little waiting room, and only one platform.

“Is that it?” asked nobody in particular.

Well, yes… but also no.

I’d had a very strong sense that these two little stations would fail to deliver much of note to relate, and since I’d come all this way, I thought it would make sense to perhaps take a little side trip to the city of Takasaki.

It was hardly a metropolis, but it did have something interesting up in its hills that I wanted to check out: the Takasaki Kanon.

She’s a beautiful 42m tall statue who looks down on the city from within the grounds of a Buddhist temple. Once you get off the bus you can take a winding path up past some souvenir shops with lots of daruma for sale, until you come to the base of the statue.

She’s pretty impressive. Or pretty & impressive? Or all three.

All I know is that she was worth the trip.

FUJIS LEFT AT THE END OF JANUARY 26th, 2020:

11/60