Fuji Rock Festival 2005

The plan was to pay for nothing. Daily tix went for about $150 and campsite $25. Colored wristbands signified what kind of access you had. We snuck into the campsite easily and set up the tent, but Baz got rejected. He had to store his bags in a locker. There were thousands of tents set up mostly on slopes of a golf course. We staked ours really high up, on a flat under a pine tree. It started to pour, but it was showtime, about 4pm. Baz found a 'scalper' selling for $75 and we all ended up paying. There were thousands of Japanese 20/30 somethings in totally unique fashions. The place had about 7 stages spread out at the base of a few mountains with chairlifts swaying idly in the background. A village of food stands from countries around the world, and beer shacks, had been set up and there was a lot of action. We walked around all the areas in a mist and got all muddy. The mood came together watching Steel Pulse who had a great set. I caught the tail end of Coldplay, nothing great to say. I knew Foo Fighters packed a lot of power, and got in right in front of the soundboard and waited with the thousands... Then came Dave Grohl and the band. This guy is truly a rock star, a huge stage personality with crazy energy- a great motivator, guitar player, singer. I was reminded of Bono or Mick Jagger. He was wearing a Kiss t-shirt. At the end of the set he got on the drums which thrilled a lot of people.

Next morning was hot and I needed a shower. I got in a line for a cold shower and it turned out to be a 3 hour line. I took the damn shower and soon it was pissing down rain. We found a way to sneak in, and the highlights were gonna be Asian Dub Foundation, Beck, Fatboy Slim. I felt totally yucky and my body hurt from the last 24 hours, and just cut out. Took the shuttle to Echigo Yuzawa station, in the center of a bunch of hot springs. I took a taxi to one, booked a massage, then did the bath thing. It was super hot, and great. There was a tea leaf bath with bubbles rising from underneath, outdoors. An ojisan (old dude) showed me the salt sauna, where you rub salt on 'places that need it' then sweat your balls off while laying down on straw mats with a wooden pillow wedged into the mats. We chatted for a bit then I had to get out and excused myself. I ate some soba, had some famous Niigata sake, then went to the Masseur. Before I got on the table the guy grabbed my shoulders and was really tough. But I felt great later, totally refreshed. There's no way to describe what it's like to go from feeling utterly shitty, to taking a great bath, then getting a 1st class shiatsu massage. I actually slept on most of the 1 hour bullet train ride home, something I almost never do.

Getting to Fuji Rock

Friday. I got to Baba station late, at 7:20, and headed for the Koban (police box). Met Phil and Baz there. Baz was an English teacher for Waseda Uni. students, and said he has 3 months vacation during the year, paid. He's going back to Australia for a few months 'to pour beers' for extra cash. We got on the train and took it for the end of the line. Phil got a big watermelon slice and was chomping into in while seated. Astonished Japanese commuters watched the spray fly out as he took each bite and spat the seeds into a small plastic bag. We all had a good laugh about the inevitably malevolent thoughts going through their heads about these awful gaijin.
We walked about a kilometer to the entrance of the Niigata-bound highway, then made some strategy: everyone for himself to Naeba Ski Jou. Phil got the first ride, then Baz in a red Beemer with a young lady. He said they listened to Jamariqoui. I was pretty nervous, having only hitched in a mountain town in Costa Rica. A few truck drivers stopped but were going towards Tokyo, and a bunch of people smiled. Some waved, some bowed slightly with their heads. Finally a guy in his 50s picked me up after about 10 minutes. He was very kind, we didn't talk much and there was no music. I told him that my friend just got a ride in a Beemer from a bird, then regretted it and I felt bad. He dropped me off soon after, at a rest stop.
Miraculously, Phil and Baz got dropped off there too. Baz got another, then Phil and I saw a car slow, a 20s girl stopped and said she's going to Fuji too! Get in! I'm Ayaka! She was happy to have us, and we a direct ride. Her car had marijuana leaves painted in green nail polish on the rear view mirror, and incense burner on the dash. She was very cool, agreed to pick up Baz down the road, and when she met up with her boyfriend he drove us in his Dead/Phish-stickered van to the entrance of the place.

The first one

Too many interesting things are happening here to not write them in a public forum. Here goes: Last Thursday night I decided to invite one of the other Sanyo interns to grab a drink at a nearby izakaya (near my apt) called Daisuke-ya, meaning Daisuke's place (boy's name). I went there the previous week with Marshall from San Diego, a hip place with young girls as waitresses in an ultra-hip nouveau take on traditional drinking place. They tried to speak cute English to us. So I met Shirin, a cool Iranian girl studying engineering in Kobe, nearby and we walked past the sign:
"we cook delicately of selected seasonal materials to sublimate the instinctive behavior of eat even to tasty, artistic livel."
That was good enough for us. We had a bunch of drinks and lively chat, and during it all I got a texto message from my friend Phil who I met in Nagano years back. The message was 'forget what I said last time. Got the weekend off, we're going to Fuji Rock Fest after all! Get a sleeping bag, meet at 7am in the morning at the station.' That put me in great spirits, after he'd backed out the week before. Shirin and I paid, and as we did, had a nice chat with our waitress. She''s an English major at Tokyo Christian U., and loves speaking English. She said, "I'm Hiroko. I'm 21." And we exchanged cards and phone #s. She wrote on the restaurant's card: Hiroko Iwashita (21) . An hour later, she sent me a happy texto message. By the way, Iwashita means 'under a rock.'