This website is dedicated to the rock band group Fujifabric. I hope that through this site, as many people as possible will be able to discover their music and songs.
This site offers an English translation of all their lyrics. In the posts on the blog, brief insights, which give some back ground and explanation to the many reference made in the lyrics to Japanese traditions, culture and life.
Looking forward to feedback and comments! Enjoy!
Today, I would like to introduce Mr. Benjamin Wright, a fan of Fujifabric’s Masahiko Shimura who lives in Wales, UK.
Mr. Benjamin is an active journalist working as a political correspondent for the BBC, the British public broadcaster. Born in the birthplace of rock, the UK, he has loved music since his youth, listening to many British rock bands such as Manic Street Preachers. A few years ago, Benjamin encountered the music of Fujifabric. His first introduction was their 3rd album Teenager.
He describes it as an album filled with gem-like masterpieces.
In particular, he was overwhelmed by the power of the opening track, Pedal.
At a time when he was facing very difficult circumstances both personally and professionally, he says listening to Pedal in the morning gave him the strength to think, “I can do my best today!”
In the 6th broadcast of the internet radio show Fujifabric no Netoneto Iwasete, Shimura himself introduces the album Teenager and plays flashes of all the tracks. Listening to that, you get a sense of why Pedal was chosen as the first track on the album.
According to Shimura’s own explanation: “It feels like it gradually begins.”
He continued: “I was thinking about how it would work in a live performance. The arrangement, just a little.”
You can see the finished result on the Fuji Five Lakes Cultural Center Live DVD.
For the grand homecoming live, which carried the feeling that something extraordinary was about to happen, Pedal was chosen as the opening number. The sound of the keyboard signaling the beginning of the song, and the curtain slowly rising—it perfectly created the sense of a “curtain-raising” moment.
It’s a song that makes you feel as though you’re caught in an updraft, lifted into an indescribable state.
For those of us who understand Japanese, the lyrics add to that uplifting feeling. But why is it, I wonder, that this same exhilaration from Pedal reaches someone like Benjamin, who doesn’t understand Japanese?
Surely it is because the true power of something genuine can transcend language, carried through music and words to reach people all over the world.
Whenever he has the chance—especially on Shimura’s birthday—Benjamin regularly shares thoughts about Fujifabric and Shimura on Twitter (now X)
Since Masahiko was always moving forward and pushing ahead, I believe he might also have been looking toward expanding his musical activities to a global stage. In an interview for Music and Words, he even spoke about writing lyrics in English.
If he had known that he had a passionate fan in the UK, the birthplace of rock, he surely would have been delighted.
Today’s featured song is Aka-Kiiro no Kinmokusei (Red-Yellow Osmanthus). With the heat lasting so long this year, I wonder if the fragrant osmanthus will bloom later than usual.
先日の記事で、「若者のすべて」の数奇な運命を書いたのですが（Fujifabric International Fan Site ６月２３日付 記事）、運命に導かれた１ページがまた加わることとなりました。志村君がいなくなってから１６年間の間に、大躍進を遂げた曲です。一生懸命頑張っても、なかなかメジャーデビューすることが叶わないこの世界で、ご自身が不在の中、ここまでの大出世をすることは大変名誉なことだと思います。
Fujifabric’s “Wakamono no Subete” has been selected as the background music for a new McDonald’s Japan commercial!!
The song will be used for one season (three months), starting from July 11, 2025.
Within Japan, “Wakamono no Subete” will be played across various media platforms, including television and radio (both terrestrial and satellite broadcasts, cable, internet TV/radio), in-store videos, and many more.
A young man, who has just gotten his driver’s license, takes his mother and older sister for a ride to the McDonald’s drive-thru. The setting seems to be Nagasaki, Kyushu. The local dialect adds an extra layer of warmth to the scene. As the older sister playfully teases her younger brother, the mother quietly reflects on how much her child has grown.
The commercial doesn’t include the iconic fireworks part of the chorus from “Wakamono no Subete”, which means it avoids the strong association of the song with fireworks. Instead, it captures only the atmosphere of summer in a provincial town, which fits beautifully with the story of the ad. Shimura once said he wanted to create songs that “blend into the everyday moments of life,” and perhaps, with this, another one of his dreams has come true.
Back in high school, Shimura worked part-time at a McDonald’s in Fujiyoshida. Some fans may have even visited the location as a kind of pilgrimage.
There was a memorable moment on the band’s internet radio show, Netoneto Iwasete, in the segment hosted by Kanazawa called “Small Happiness”—a corner where the smaller the happiness, the more points you get. A fan once sent in, “There were two pickles in my cheeseburger,” and someone replied, “That’s normal. You’re lucky if there are three.”
Now, the fact that one of Shimura’s songs—written and composed by him—is being used in a McDonald’s corporate commercial and will be aired continuously for three months is truly an honor.
In a previous article on June 23 (Fujifabric International Fan Site), I wrote about the curious fate of “Wakamono no Subete”, and now, it seems, yet another fateful chapter has been added. In the 16 years since Shimura’s passing, this song has gone on to achieve tremendous success. In a world where even with great effort, many artists never get to debut, for his song to rise to such prominence in his absence is truly a remarkable accomplishment.
Mr. Katayose, who is the producer of the first Fujifabric's album, "Fujifabric", once told Shimura that he got goosebumps the first time he heard the song. Looking back now, it’s clear that Katayose’s instincts were absolutely right—surely everyone would agree. (From Akihito Katayose’s blog “Fujifabric 7,” dated July 16, 2010.)
Katayose’s honest portrayal of Shimura at the time—worried and uncertain—is heartbreaking. But as Katayose said, those fears turned out to be completely unfounded… Thinking about it now brings a tinge of sadness. I hope that, from up above, Shimura is watching this McDonald’s commercial featuring “Wakamono no Subete” with a smile.
I sincerely wish that every McDonald’s location in Yamanashi Prefecture would put up a sign saying: “This song is by Masahiko Shimura, a native of Fujiyoshida, Yamanashi.”
And today’s featured song, of course, is none other than “Wakamono no Subete.”
The commercial beautifully captures its mood, with Kanazawa’s quietly persistent piano and Shimura’s vocals weaving together in perfect harmony. I believe this has also become the best possible birthday present for Shimura-kun.
Shimura-kun, congratulations from us in Fujiyoshida !
