Profile
Masafumi Fujimoto
Hi there! My name is Masafumi Fujimoto. Until the Great East Japan Earthquake of 2011, I was engaged in editing production at an advertising company in Tokyo. However, the earthquake was a turning point in my life and I headed home to Yamaguchi. When I arrived, I was extremely energized and motivated to help revitalize the region, but I had a hard time adjusting to the motivation level of the local people. Around that time I met an elderly lady who said: “It doesn’t matter if all the people move away from the island; that’s just the nature of things. Someday people will come back again.” Lessening the tension I’d been feeling, those few words relieved me hugely, and I was able to finally adjust. Since then, I’ve been involved in writing and editing magazines, and working in advertisement production, as well as doing a little bit of farming. I also spend time walking around Setouchi searching for the many, many voices out there.
write up by Masafumi Fujimoto
Available Write Up: 51
2015.6.4 Yamaguchi
Niwaka Festival: Battering the Shrine on Land & at Sea?! West Japan’s Strangest Celebration!
It's the morning of September 14th, 2014.
2015.5.30 Hiroshima
A Fisherman’s Island That Will Catch Your Heart Too! / Atata Island (Hiroshima Prefecture)
Atata Island is a fisherman’s island floating in the Sea of Aki.
2015.5.17 Yamaguchi
Whale Town & Misuzu Kaneko, a Sezaki-Born Children’s Poet!
Sezaki, Nagato city, Yamaguchi prefecture is a town that once prospered from whaling.
2015.5.15 Yamaguchi
VOL. 5: The City Where the Reformists Walked – Let’s Visit the Sites in NHK Drama Hana Moyu!
layed by Mao Inoue in the NHK historical drama Hana Moyu, Sugi Fumi (later to become Miwako) is the heroine, and Odawara Inosuke (later to become Katori Motohiko) is portrayed by Osawa Takao.
2015.5.12 Yamaguchi
300 Million Years Ago This Was Ocean?! Japan’s Biggest Karst Plateau!
The Akiyoshi plateau is one of Yamaguchi prefecture’s main sightseeing spots. People who see this vast landscape for the first time are often left bewildered and just leave after taking a commemorative photo… Oh, what a pity!!
‘Writer Baton’ : Ehime Mandarins Are Excellent!
‘Writer baton’ is a project whereby photo-writers from each of the 7 prefectures that surround the Seto Inland Sea send each other their particular prefecture's specialties.
2015.4.30 Yamaguchi
VOL. 4: Launch of the Meiji Restoration – Let’s Visit the Sites in NHK Drama Hana Moyu!
The deathbed poem by Meiji Restoration hero, Takasugi Shinsaku: "This world that is uninterested, I shall make interesting!"
2015.4.28 Yamaguchi
VOL. 3: Chinryutei – Let’s Visit the Sites in NHK Drama Hana Moyu!
As Rurikoji Temple is one of Yamaguchi prefecture's most famous sightseeing spots, sightseeing buses continuously visit it.
2015.4.28 Yamaguchi
The Shrine of Sugawara no Michizane, The God of Learning!
Though there are numerous shrines whose enshrined deity is Sugawara no Michizane, the god of learning, this is the only place that can claim to be " the first in Japan"!
2015.4.26 Yamaguchi
VOL.2: Hagi Castle Town – Let’s Visit the Sites in NHK Drama Hana Moyu!
Hagi castle town has been designated as a national historical site.
2015.4.21 Yamaguchi
Visiting the Sites of NHK Drama Hana Moyu! VOL. 1 Shoin Shrine!
We will be doing a series introducing some sites that appear in the 2015 NHK taiga drama (historical drama). Naturally, the first site is Shoin Shrine.
2015.4.21 Yamaguchi
Road Station Hagiokan: Visited by the Leading Spirits of Japan’s Restoration?!
Hagiokan is a road station opened at the entrance of Hagi city in 2012.
2015.4.19 Yamaguchi
This is not an overseas resort or even Okinawa!
2015.2.17 Yamaguchi
Ishiburo, Sauna Culture Characteristic of Setouchi (at Chikamuro, Suooshima)
Japanese people love taking baths♪ What many non-Japanese people consider even more peculiar is the Japanese bath and bathing culture.
2014.11.28 Yamaguchi
The local Nishikikawa Seiryu line (Nishiki river clear stream line) runs parallel to the Nishiki River that flows from south to north in Iwakuni city, Yamaguchi prefecture.
2014.11.14 Yamaguchi
“Goldfish lanterns light the town of white walls: Yanai, Yamaguchi”
Since the Edo period (1603~1867), the town of white plastered walls has been lit by red, goldfish-shaped lanterns!
2014.11.12 Yamaguchi
“Shikairō”, a product of the Meiji Restoration : Kaminoseki-chō, Yamaguchi
Depicting the rapid changes that took place at the end of the Edo period and the beginning of the Meiji period, a yearlong NHK TV drama called “Hana Moyu (Flower Burns)” will run through 2015.
2014.11.8 Yamaguchi
“Ōbatake no Seto”, one of Japan’s three major tides, is located just under Ōshima Bridge, which connects Yanai City in Yamaguchi with Suō-Ōshima Island.
The world’s most beautiful wooden arched bridge : Kintai Bridge (Iwakuni City, Yamaguchi)
Gateway to Yamaguchi Prefecture, Iwakuni City...
A deity has danced across the ocean for a 1000-years : A Shinto ritual, Iwai Island
♪Hoh Hoho Aayeya Horan E Yowyasa no Sa♪Powering a traditional rowing boat called a “Kaidenmasen”, 20 men start pulling their (almost) 3m long oars in perfect unison in time with the “Horan Enya” sea shanty.