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You may remember a little station in Kushiro, Hokkaido, also called Shin-Fuji. That is not this Shin-Fuji.
This Shin-Fuji is closer to the big girl herself, a minor stop on the Tokaido shinkansen line, a station added as what feels like an afterthought, on the outskirts of Fuji.
This Shin-Fuji is therefore a bit of a walk from the Oji factory whose paper making facilities and their cabbagey fragrance extend for quite some distance opposite Fuji Station itself.
This Shin-Fuji is one of those “shin” stations named not just for their newness, but for their shinkansenness, a word which, you may have gathered, is not an actual word. (Although I guess it is now.)
This Shin-Fuji is also right next to an industrial centre, but seeing as how Fuji city is really nothing but industry, that’s not really saying much.
This Shin-Fuji is where I’ll be staying while I work my way through the final four.
Nothing really seems to have changed in the almost fifteen years since I lived in Fuji City, I discover on an evening wander after arriving. The looming magnificence of Mount Fuji is still at odds with the Midgar-lite factory-scape of chimneys billowing smoke and pipes and doodads curling around giant storage tanks and warehouses and a seemingly endless procession of trucks carrying stuff to and fro, rumbling and hissing as they go.
There is, of course, more to the city than the industry – not much though. I chuckle when I take a look at the sightseeing map outside the station – almost everything recommended for tourists is at least a fifteen minute drive outside the town itself. Still, there are worse places to live, even if I’ve not actually lived in them yet.
One big difference is hard to miss – there is a swanky new Japanese language school near Fuji Station. I also see a lot of non-Japanese factory workers making their way to work first thing in the morning. Something tells me these two facts might be connected.
Perhaps the only interesting thing to say about the area around Shin-Fuji is that it is utterly bereft of points of interest, other than some cracking views of Mount Fuji:
FUJIS LEFT AT THE END OF SEPTEMBER 3rd, 2020 : 3/60
#57 SHIN-FUJI GALLERY
CityHillsAndSea 
Well, Shin-Fuji station was indeed an afterthought. When the Tokaido Shinkansen line was built, it didn’t exist. However so many people wanted to stop near their iconic mountain, it got added.
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Yeah I didn’t know the ins and outs of it until very recently…(!) Apparently, Soka Gakkai chipped in for the costs. So every time you get off the train there, it’s literally a religious experience.;)
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