52 Fujis #36 – Fujitec Mae

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

After reviving the Fujis during a visit to Hirosaki castle, it seems only fitting that the next of our Fujis was also a castle side quest, this time during a trip to Hikone.

Maybe this was me just stretching the knots out of the muscles, limbering up & flexing, a small jog around the track before settling in for the full slog of the race to the end.

Maybe it was just me being a bit more organized and incredibly wary of just how little there typically has been to do at Fujis in the past. It’s hardly worth spending a week’s wages to get to a tiny little station on a rural line in Shiga prefecture, particularly one that exists purely to serve a factory, with nothing else in sight for miles and service so infrequent that it makes more sense to just skip waiting for the next train on the Omi line and instead walk a couple of miles down the road back to Maibara. A road that is little more than thundering heavy goods vehicles, a hilariously old-fashioned love hotel, one convenience store and then finally, a bit of civilization before you can get your ticket out of nowhere.

anime girls inviting you on a beer cruise

So after my walk around the castle in Hikone, it was down to the Ohmi railway station I went. There was some kind of a beer cruise in operation – you pay a premium to sit on a slightly more comfortable train, drink some beer and enjoy the scenery – but that train wasn’t heading in my direction.

My destination, Fujitec Mae, is named after the elevator company whose factory is right in front of the station. (Remember Fuji Film Mae? The ‘mae’ means in front of.) It has cool sweeping structures where I imagine engineers test the failsafe devices which prevent the conversion of human beings in to strawberry jam in the event of emergencies. Exciting stuff.
The station itself? Not so much.

So it was a giggle at the daftness of this whole project once again, and then I set off down the road towards Maibara, as the next train in that direction was a good hour away. As I was about halfway there, I realized I could have just taken the next train back to Hikone and then looped around on a different train line to Maibara, saving myself time and energy. I also wouldn’t have inhaled so much diesel exhaust.

That’s not what the Fujis are about though, is it? They’re all about traipsing through isolated little settlements in the Japanese countryside whilst feeling painfully conspicuous and vaguely ill at ease. Occasionally having a little chuckle about my endeavours if the weather isn’t too bad and I’m feeling cheerful.

Both of those things were true on this particular day, and the Fujis started to feel like a realistic thing to try and finish in my remaining time in Japan.
They still didn’t feel like a particularly sensible thing to be doing, however.