We started "Around The Fest." to highlight the wide variety of people involved with Fuji Rock: the musicians, agents, media people and others. We hope this helps you view the festival from several different angles.

This time we interviewed Mr. Jay Inoue, who has been a photographer at FRF every year. Last year he also helped with photos for Fuji Rock Express - free of charge. You might see him somewhere in this site.

Jay is a big fan of The Beatles and reggae music, and plays guitar pretty well. He keeps a record shop in Harajuku, where Jamaican '45 imports and used UK rock Lp's are his specialty. This shop is very popular among fans versed in rock and reggae music.

Check out his shop's web site :htpp://www.45music.com.

Secondly, he owns a travel agency, which has a great reputation for its tours of UK rock events. His credentials are especially good for tours to the Glastonbury Festival, the most biggest festival in Europe. You also can ask him for tours to see live shows like Oasis.

Aside from cheap tix to the Caribbean and Asia, he has an excellenat reputaion among individuals and music agencies. Anyone interested please check herewww.oasis-office.co.jp/tour/.

OK, now read this up. Interviewer is ORG-nob.

comment by ORG-master  (May 1, 2002)

Although the basis of Fuji Rock is influenced by the Glastonbury Festival, for most Japanese, Glastonbury still remains out of reach. I interviewed Mr. Jay Inoue who has been to the UK for the event ever since 1984. His storywas quite interesting. It makes you wonder if you can make it to Glastonbury yourself.

[Start of the tour]

It was 1984 when Jay first saw the Glastonbury Festival. It started when Koichi Hanafusa, a music journalist, asked Jay to start a tour package to the event.

"He came and asked me: 'Why don't you help me launch a tour to Glastonbury?'. I guess he thought we could offer that kind of tour since we had already planned a "Raggae Sunsplash" tour to Jamaica."

The Glastonbury Festival, at that time, was working with CND (Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament), and the proceeds were donated to that organization.

"We were free to choose and could understand the policy of anti-nuclear movement, so we could organize a tour other travel agents couldn't."

The artists at that time were : Elvis Costello, The Smiths, Ian Dury, Fairport Convention, Joan Baez (an anti-war folk singer in the 60s) and so on.

"I don't think it's possible to remember who performed each year. There were so many every year, they tend to blend together."

Jay confessed he was moved by Fairport Convention.

"I'd never imagined an artist like Fairport Convension would be included in the lineup. The lineup is composed of artists from various fields of music. The president of a company, to which Morio Agata and Shogo Hamada (both famous Japanese musicians) belong, was one of the attendants I remember. There was only 10 people on a tour at most back then. After the 90s, the festival was getting to be known in Japan because of Brit Pop artists such as Oasis or Blur."

"Koichi was trying to introduce Glastonbury to Japanese people by writing articles in magazines like 'Takarajima (a subculture magazine of the time)' and some other businesslike newspapers."

Mr. Hidaka (Taisho of Smash) started to go to Glastonbury in mid-80s.

"We used to talk about a dream at the backyard of the stage, 'someday we will build a festival like this."

[What IS the Glastonbury Festival?]

The venue for the festival is a farm owned by Michael Eavis. It's far from town and there isn't mush in the way of accomodation around there. Most festival goers camp out. The boy scout began in Britain, and children went camping in the Summer. Therefore, British people didn't hesitate to camp out. A hundred thousand people gathering there made the farm look like a small town. It was a wonderful view with tents all over the place.

Every Brit knows the area out there is famous for Arthurian Legends. I guess if it's in Japan, it resembles "Izumo". The festival itself became more popular throughout the UK in the 80s by working with CND. Even now, the proceeds are donated to various organizations, such as the Society for the Conservation of Nature.

Glastonbury Festival originally started in 1970. Like other rock festivals organized in Britain, Glastonbury was influenced by Woodstock. Michael Eavis, the organizer, hit upon the idea when he saw a festival in Bath in the Summer of 1970. Surprisingly, he did his own in the Autumn in the same year. T-Rex was one of the artists who played in front of around two thousand people at the memorable, first Glastonbury. The audience has grown every year, presently at about a hundred thousand people.

Anyone under 14 years old is free of charge. The most remarkable thing, however, is that there is someone with his own farm and enough space for a hundred thousand people. Is there anyone like that in Japan???

"GF is held in the field of the organizer and costs less money because the performers are mostly from inside the country. That's the big difference with Fuji. The performers would also like to play there to appeal themselves."

[You can enjoy yourself]

Is Glastonbury changing as years go by?

"I don't think so. 'Cause anybody young and old can still enjoy it."

Glastonbury has a circus, cinema, dance tents and a playground for kids. Healing and meditation spaces are there, as well.

"It's funny that people there are often naked for some reason. I'm not sure of the connection between meditation and nudity."

There also are many workshops, teaching you things like how to grow plants or how to knit. It should be anything for people to enjoy themelves while not at the stages.

The lineup is not announced officially in advance. People get to know who plays through the list that day, sometimes with the advanced news from the artists themselves.

"Of course there are changes or cancelations sometimes, but no one complains about that. That's one of the differences with Japan. It's not someones concert but it's an event which anybody could enjoy. The one hundred thousand crowd is Michael's audience. Those who come to Glastonbury with their tents and stay knows how to enjoy themselves."

"It seems that they don't have to cook there. There are many place to eat, although the problem is the food is not so good. You can have 'sausage & chips', since they can't cook fish out there. Not only is the food like what you can eat out in restaurants, but it's also homemade. Anyway, everyone involved in the festival looks happy to cooking and eating it."

"The artists themselves fit in with the audience eating and watching the shows together. People naturally want to ask for their autograph, but also try to give them some space. People acquaint the manner."

[How about the other festivals in the UK?]

Regarding other festivals, like Reading, V2002 and the revival of the Isle of Wight Festival, those have almost become a business with a promoter.

"V2002 is organized by Virgin Group. It has various business sponsors such as cellphone, radio, airline, beverage and trains."

T in The Park, which is in Scotland, resembles Glastonbury. Festivals are popular in England. And each of them are working hard.

"There is no big difference between the concert-goers of Glast and Reading. But Reading is much easier to prepare for since the venue is close to London. You can say it's the festival for Londoners. On the other hand, people from all over Europe as well as from in the UK go to Glastonbury. Though, Reading has a camp site as well."

[Time to rough it]

Jay took part in the first Fuji Rock ('97) as an official photographer.

"I looked at both staff and audience objectively at that time. And I could say both were not ready for operating and attending. The announcements beforehand were not enough. There should have been more warnings of the weather, such as it's cold at night, be ready for rain, etc."

Even so, Jay also mentioned that the difference between Glast and Fuji is getting smaller these days. But the basic attitude towards camping is still quite different.

"In the UK, people are familiar with camping from their childhood. But in Japan, the situation is different and outdoor activities are only fashionable with certain people. Not every 'B-PAL (Japanese outdoor magazine)' reader likes music."

Jay says Fuji Rock allows a hundred thousand people to come.

"They need to teach the typical Japanese music fan how to camp first. That way, more people will enjoy Fuji Rock. In the UK, you can get such information about camping in music or town magazines. How about focusing on it in fujirockers. org?"

[I want to see...]

"I think Japanese bands should fill the lineup much more than they presently do. Although we like to listen to foreign music, the lineup doesn't need to be solely occupied by foreign artists. At Glast, David Bowie who is nearly a celebrity performs too. Even if you don't want to see any Japanese pop group, you have many other choices."

If you have to ask for days off from your boss, it's easier to explain with the bands' name that everyone knows. Or, it becomes easier to operate if Fuji Rock penetrates a wider audience. In fact, Glastonbury was almost closed by the conservative party politicians in the 80s. With the support of ordinary people as well as music mania, Glastonbury continues.

"I think Fuji Rock should be held in some other place but Naeba. The venue is very important, I guess."

Who is the most impressive in Fuji Rock? "Well, last year's Neil Young was fabulous. I haven't seen him before. And I was surprised when I saw Ray Davis played there. I wish I could see the artists who are kind of classical, I mean, someone who is popular among middle-aged people as well." "The Circus of Horrors was fantastic, too. Everybody should have seen it definitely. Unfortunately the announcements for the circus were not enough. I guess I would like to see Paul McCartney and XTC - even though they are only two in the band, but they can have support member to play- at FRF."

In response to a question of the fledgling days of big names,

"I remember Ocean Colour Scene played in '92. They looked very nervous and the performance wasn't so good. I never thought they would turn out to be as cool a band as they are these days. In '94, I saw Oasis, and also they weren't very professional. But only the name spreaded firsthand, and there were groupies from Japan."

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Any message for the readers?

"The number of performers is quite enough. I think it should be spread more so that many people pay attention to Fuji Rock. I'll try to help as much as I can."

"At my travel agency, we plan the tours to Glastonbury or Reading Festival. Aside from festivals, we make plans to go to the shows of big bands as needed. You should check us before you go to the UK."

"You should see the British bands in the UK. Needeless to say, it's definitely different from seeing them in Japan."

So why don't you check the web site for the first step?

Reported by ORG-nob and translated by ORG-kaori, and with a help of ORG-jason  (May 1, 2002)