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.
