QUICK SUMMARY FOR THE READING AVERSE / TIME IMPOVERISHED:
Friend pointed out lots of stations in Japan had Fuji in the name, I concurred, started to visit them all, got a bit fed up with it all, quit 10 years ago but started again because there is quite possibly something not right with my thought processes. Full list at bottom of post.
UPDATE September 5th, 2020 – I am, as of about 11am on September 4th 2020, most likely the only human being who has ever been to every station in Japan called ‘Fuji’~something or ‘Something ~Fuji’.
This makes me feel special. And a little bit ridiculous.
Fortunately, these are my two default emotional states, so I’m perfectly fine with that.
Broken Lightbulb Moment
Nearly fifteen years ago when I was somebody else and you probably were too, I was on a train travelling up to Nikko. I was with a friend who was visiting Japan. Looking out the window at one point, he casually observed that there were a heck of a lot of stations called ‘Fuji-whatever’.
Somehow this flashed into my brain in the form of a demented quest. There had to be some kind of cool story beating beneath the heart of a journey around all these stations, Fuji is Japan’s avatar, her Wii Mii, her Tinder profile pic.
Local communities across the country frequently nickname their mountains after the diva herself – Sanuki Fuji in Shikoku for one; there’s Kaimon in Kyushu which is called the Satsuma Fuji; Daisen in Tottori, which is called the Izumo Fuji; you get the idea, and I haven’t even mentioned a single one of the 5 lookalikes in this article. At the end of the day, if you’re a strato-volcano you’re getting compared to the big lady herself. No way around it.
It’s the traditional fixture on old bathhouse walls, its in every single Western movie that has Japan in it, even if it has to be shoehorned in somehow (Lost in Translation, I’m looking at you.) It’s on designs, packaging – it’s hard to go through a day and not see her.
Hokusai’s Views of Fuji, anybody?
Then there’s all the businesses with some variation of Fuji in their names. Fujitec, who make elevators, Fujitsu, the electronics company, Fujifilm, they of the cameras… Again, you get the idea. Fuji is Japan. Not in a total metonym kind of way. She’s more like the body double that does the glamour shots.
How The List Was Made
The original idea was that 52 was a good round number. Number of weeks in the year, number of cards in a playing deck, number of the meaning of life plus 10. Just a grand number. There were not going to be any additions or subtractions – I did turn a couple of Fujis into jokers, so there were, initially, 54 in actuality. I got on a train scheduling service on the computer, plopped in FUJI, wrote those stations down, added the compass directions in front of it so I was searching for N-S-E-W + FUJI- whatevers, wrote those stations down, tried some SHIN FUJI what-have-you combo, stuck them on my list & there I was.
But in the end, I had to add. Fujiyoshida station changed its name in 2011-ish to Mount Fuji station,so I should probably go back there. Fujinami in Ishikawa shut down a while before I even made the list, but I’m still going to do it. Somehow I managed to miss Nakano-Fujimicho in Tokyo and there are a couple of Fujis in Gunma I missed too. I may do them if I have time. (You know I will because I am completionist bonkers.)
Now here’s another issue with my daft list. Not all Fujis are created equal.
There’s 富士 – that’s the mountain – and there’s 藤 – which is wisteria. That discrepancy is like the difference between pray and prey would be to a native English speaker – they’re instantly incredibly different when you look at them even if they sound the same.
Oh well. Younger me didn’t let that bother him when he drew up the list and so here we are in 2019 with close to 58 stations on the list. I mean, I’d probably have been done by now if I’d only been less bonkers for my ” spelling be damned” brand of completionism, It is what it is though and what it is is that there are a lot more wisteria named stations than mountain ones.
Flashback
I started the 52 in 2006, was planning on finishing up in a year, ended up not managing that and then a few years later I just totally, quietly, gave up on them – not because of the effort involved, or the time or even the money. Not even because of all three of those things. Honestly, it was disillusionment. The whole bananas idea of finding some common theme by wandering across Japan in search of stations with similar names didn’t really pan out. The only common thread was… feeling really awkward stepping off a train onto the platform of a rural Japanese train station, walking around some small, sleepy village with no signs of life for an hour or two while the occasional resident popped up to eyeball me suspiciously… and then slinking back on the train to go home. Most of these stations are just places where life goes on in that unassuming way that doesn’t announce itself and would really rather you just left it alone to do that, thanks.
I started to feel very very silly. So I quit.
Flash Forward
Then in December 2018, I was leaving Matsue, a city a good 12 hours worth of rail travel from my home. I’d just visited my first of the twelve castles I was planning on seeing before I left Japan. I was looking at google maps to get the name of a mountain I could see from the window of the train when onto the screen popped a blast from the past… “Fujimicho”.
An actual Fuji Fuji – 富士見町. One I remembered from my abandoned mission. It set me reminiscing. I had a resigned chuckle as I realized I’d, like as not, never be back up here again to visit it. What a missed opportunity.
But it was there now. Back in my head. Bouncing about.
Two months later, I’d be in Hirosaki, in Aomori prefecture, the other end of the country. This time, I made sure to take a detour to Fujisaki, birthplace of the Fuji apple, and quite possibly the most unhappening place in a frozen prefecture of unhappening places.
I was going to finish this damn list. I was going to finish it precisely because it was an idiotic notion. I was going to finish it because it was ridiculous.
Final Thoughts
All of this started when I lived in a little town called Fuji in Shizuoka prefecture. You’ll notice in the list below that it’s never been checked off – nor has its other station, Shin-Fuji, where the bullet train stops. There’s a few other Fuijs in that area which I was holding back for the big finale. I certainly didn’t expect that finale to be nearly fifteen years in the making.
The original intent of going full circle has really taken on a very different form. It’s going to be quite a journey going back to that part of the world for the first time in nearly a decade. Come with me, why don’t you?
The List
The full list of the 52, plus the 2019 additions and edits.
UPDATE January 2020 – and number 59?!
UPDATE March 2020 – WE ARE UP TO 60 FOR SOME REASON (I somehow missed the JR Fujinomori in Kyoto, literally 3 blocks from #4 – Fujinomori.)
Visited Fujis are in bold. I’ll be adding links to individual Fuji posts once they happen & then you should see some lovely blue coloured clickable words.
Stay posted as the bold turn blue.
| COMPLETE # | NAME | KANJI | Where? |
| 1 | FUJINOMIYA | 富士宮 | Shizuoka |
| 2 | NISHIFUJINOMIYA | 西富士宮 | Shizuoka |
| 3 | FUJINE (SHIZ) | 富士根 | Shizuoka |
| 4 | FUJINOMORI | 藤森 | Kyoto |
| 5 | FUJIIDERA | 藤井寺 | Osaka |
| 6 | FUJISAKA | 藤阪 | Osaka |
| 7 | FUJIOKA (SHIZ) | 富士岡 | Shizuoka |
| 8 | FUJIMIGAOKA | 富士見ヶ丘 | Tokyo |
| 9 | MOUNT FUJI – the mountain | 富士山 | Yamanashi/Shizuoka |
| 10 | FUJIKYU HIGHLANDS | 富士急ハイランド | Yamanashi |
| 11 | FUJIYOSHIDA | 富士吉田 | Yamanashi |
| 12 | FUJIKAWA (SHIZ) | 富士川 | Shizuoka |
| 13 | NISHI-FUJIWARA | 西藤原 | Aichi |
| 14 | HIGASHI-FUJIWARA | 東藤原 | Aichi |
| 15 | FUJINAMI (AICHI) | 藤浪 | Aichi |
| 16 | FUJIGAOKA (AICHI) | 藤が丘 | Aichi |
| 17 | FUJIMATSU | 富士松 | Aichi |
| 18 | FUJIKAWA (AICHI) | 藤川 | Aichi |
| 19 | FUJISAWA | 藤沢 | Kanagawa |
| 20 | FUJISAWAHONMACHI | 藤沢本町 | Kanagawa |
| 21 | FUJINO | 藤野 | Kanagawa |
| 22 | FUJI FILM MAE | 富士フイルム前 | Kanagawa |
| 23 | FUJISAKIGU MAE | 藤崎宮前 | Fukuoka |
| 24 | FUJISAKI (FUKUOKA) | 藤崎 | Fukuoka |
| 25 | FUJITANA | 藤棚 | Fukuoka |
| 26 | FUJINOKI | 藤ノ木 | KitaKyushu |
| 27 | HIGASHI FUJISHIMA | 東藤島 | Fukui |
| 28 | FUJII | 藤井 | Fukui |
| 29 | FUJIGAOKA (KANAGAWA) | 藤が丘 | Kanagawa |
| 30 | FUJIMICHO (KANAGAWA) | 富士見町 | Kanagawa |
| 31 | FUJIOKA (TOCHIGI) | 藤岡 | Tochigi |
| 32 | FUJIYAMASHITA | 富士山下 | Gunma |
| 33 | SHINFUJI (HOKKAIDO) | 新富士 | Hokkaido |
| 34 | FUJIYAMA | 藤山 | Hokkaido |
| 35 | FUJISAKI (AOMORI) | 藤崎 | Aomori |
| 36 | FUJITEC MAE | フジテック前 | Shiga |
| 37 | FUJIMI | 富士見 | Nagano |
| 38 | FUJIE | 藤江 | Hyogo |
| 39 | FUJINAMI (WAKAYAMA) | 藤並 | Wakayama |
| 40 | FUJINO-USHIJIMA | 藤の牛島 | Saitama |
| 41 | FUJIMINO | ふじみ野 | Saitama |
| 42 | FUJIMIDAI | 富士見台 | Saitama |
| 43 | NAKANO FUJIMICHO | 中野富士見町 | Tokyo |
| 44 | FUJITA | 藤田 | Fukushima |
| 45 | FUJISHIMA | 藤島 | Yamagata |
| 46 | FUJINE (IWATE) | 藤根 | Iwate |
| 47 | SHIN-FUJIWARA | 新藤原 | Tochigi |
| 48 | GUNMA FUJIOKA | 群馬藤岡 | Gunma |
| 49 | KITA FUJIOKA | 北藤岡 | Gunma |
| 50 | MUSASHI-FUJISAWA | 武蔵藤沢 | Saitama |
| 51 | FUJISHIRO | 藤代 | Ibaraki |
| 52 | FUJISAN | 富士山 | Yamanashi |
| 53 | FUJINAMI (ISHIKAWA) | 藤波 | Ishikawa |
| 54 | FUJIKOSHI (TOYAMA) | 不二越 | Toyama |
| 55 | JR FUJINOMORI | JR 藤森 | Kyoto |
| 56 | FUJIMICHO (TOTTORI) | 富士見町 | Tottori |
| 57 | SHINFUJI (SHIZ) | 新富士 | Shizuoka |
| 58 | GAKUNAN FUJIOKA | 岳南富士岡 | Shizuoka |
| 59 | FUJIEDA | 藤枝 | Shizuoka |
| 60 | FUJI | 富士 | Shizuoka |
CityHillsAndSea 