As I write this post I am sitting on a bench surrounded by excited children, massive golden cat sculptures, and a giant blue roller coaster with cars shaped like a ukulele-playing hamster riding on a cloud. In the distance there is a hazy but still majestic Mt. Fuji. Immersed in these sights and sounds, it is almost impossible to imagine it any other way: Fujikyu Highland is its own little world. It’s hard to visualize this area as grassland used for subsistence for the people living around it. But astonishingly, only two decades ago none of this existed. For centuries this very area was used as iriai lands, or common lands, for local residents. Read my post for more details of continuity and change in this intriguing landscape.
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