SBN × Kazushige Fujita: Pioneering – Hakuba

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Pioneer – Hakuba

On February 2, I returned from Canada and immediately headed for Hakuba.

Not because it had a purpose.I just like Hakuba.

Many ski resorts and towns are integrated in the Hakuba / Otari area, a town at the foot of the steep mountains of the Northern Alps, creating a comfortable space for us who like mountains.

A popular spot visited by many mountain lovers from overseas.Most shops have English menus, and half, or even more than half, of the people walking in the city are from abroad.I don't see many Japanese people who don't go out so much, don't know the goodness of Hakuba, or don't have good access.Access from Tokyo is better in Yuzawa and Gunma, and it takes about +2 hours to get to Hakuba.It may be better to go closer and slip a lot rather than slipping occasionally.People in the Kansai and Tokai regions often go to the Gifu area, but sometimes when they want good snow or when they try to slip a little further, Hakuba thinks about access, snow, and various conditions. I often go up to the candidates.Perhaps because of that, there are many people who speak the Kansai dialect, and the atmosphere of Kansai people is one of the reasons why I like Hakuba.

While I was in Hakuba, I was taken care of by HEAD SPORTS STATION HAKUBA in Hakuba.

There are head rentals and goods sold here, tune-up services and cafes, and contrary to the somewhat rigid image of head, Junji Takada-style uncle who resembles Girolamo is the owner, and the Japanese slopes are apparent. A cozy space is created.More than half of the customers are from overseas, and many people go to ski after eating bread and coffee in the morning, and around noon, they often come to drink beer, go online, or go abroad. Space is here.

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One month I lived in Hakuba.

When I thought about how to face this mountain, I realized that I didn't know Hakuba at all.

I like Hakuba, but I didn't know much about Hakuba.

I want to develop with my own feet.Then, every night, a month began, in which I kept looking at my computer, maps, and weather forecast.

When I arrived at Hakuba and looked up at the sky, it was not white and soft, but hard and cold rain.

The mountains are yellow and there is no snow on the roadside.What month is it now? End of April?It created such an atmosphere.

After the rain, the cold returned, and the snow that melted in the rain turned into water and then into ice.The mountains and the city were covered with ice.

After that, every day I walk in search of the occasional snow.

What can you do in this condition?Where and what should I go to?How about over there?The difficult conditions made me want to take on the challenge, and on the contrary, I felt it was fun.

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The ones who skated the most together in Hakuba were itachan, KAJI, and U5.

They are cameramen, itachan is a photographer, and U5 and KAJI make HYWOD and TOMBOY images and send them out to the world.

Isn't itachan and KAJI the most snowboarding addicts ever?It was so refreshing to see a face I had never seen before.

The two are conscious of each other and have a good rivalry.When one grows a little, the other grows too.I'm getting better day by day.

Originally a snowboarder from the ground up.In recent years, I have been working as a cameraman, and I have less time to ride snowboards, and I feel lonely that my aspirations for skiing skills have diminished.I want you to be more greedy for slipping and to like snowboarding purely.I had that feeling for a long time.This time has finally come this season.I was really happy to skate with two people who are really enjoying snowboarding.

When I went to shoot together, I chose a place where the cameraman could enjoy as much as possible, and I made it possible for the cameraman to have time to slide.

To make a good work, you have to make a good day.I wanted to create a day that everyone would enjoy.

I wanted to capture them in the camera and understand the cameraman, and I wanted the cameraman to feel the feelings of the person being photographed.

I couldn't find a good camera angle, or I thought it was good and it wasn't good, and the waiting time while hiking was cold and free.Photographers have different pains and difficulties than slippers.

It's really fun to watch the turn shooting, jumping, line, and so on.It's interesting to see the nervous face, the face when making up, and the facial expression.

His face as a snowboarder, not as a cameraman, was different from usual, and I felt that I could understand the fun of a cameraman a little while shooting it.When I put that expression on the camera, I naturally smiled.

The fact that I started wanting to understand the feelings of the cameraman was a good communication for some time.

They were starting to understand the riders, and it was difficult to get the tension to drop, to actually fly the same place, or to hike a little and skate longer.

In most cases, look at the slope from below, decide where to slide, take a picture, have a meeting with the sliding line and start hiking.

"Go through the right side of that tree, bite the heel turn, then fly that mash, toe, heel and come down."
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The photographer listens to it and thinks about the angle to shoot.And the radio coming in from the drop point after the hike said, "Well, do you do this with that tree? Do you do that? You can't see the mash."

The view from below and the view from above are completely different, and it is often difficult to compare with the pictures taken from below.

Shooting the line is really a chance. Hike for 30 minutes, an hour, or more and put everything on that one.It's really hard to glide along the good lines I found from below.The first common mistake is to find the line and stop or break. itachan was baptized correctly, and a sad voice echoed in a quiet, pure white place.

Their challenge created a new bond between us, we got to know each other, and new works were born.

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It's really interesting to have the first experience.

It may be the case when you go on a trip and see the scenery you have never seen, or you may eat something with a taste you have never eaten.

There is no doubt that what someone has experienced will be a very fresh and good experience if it is the first time for me personally.

Look at the map and enter a place you have never been to.Even if someone is in the place, there may be some new discoveries if you are new to it.

Searching for the feeling of being the first time, it surely flows into it.

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Find a place in an unpopular mountain, exchange opinions and bring each other's senses closer.

After that, concentrate on each task.Sliding and taking pictures.

Repeat this simple task and repeat.

As you repeat, your consciousness becomes closer and you can read each other's movements.

He slips here.He's shooting here.

It's also interesting to ask for that link.

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What made you like mountains?

I suddenly think that I had been park-riding a lot until now.

It's not a win or loss.I want to see the scenery that only I can see.

And when you enter the mountain, you will be surrounded by a mysterious atmosphere.

You can feel the heartbeat of your heart in the quiet forest.

Repeat your own questions and slide down the slope in front of you.

There are no correct or incorrect answers.No matter where you turn, you can fly.

What remains behind is the line I left behind and the satisfaction I have in my heart.

Now, at this time, I carve a proof that I am alive in the mountain and feel the heartbeat still early.

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Speaking of Hakuba, I imagine those steep mountains.

This February, I couldn't get there.

The snow wasn't in bad condition at all, and I had a few days of chance.

The reason is my immaturity.I didn't know Hakuba, but it wasn't a place I could go to just by being in Hakuba.

One day, a line was carved in the place I wanted to slip.

It is easy to see that the line carved loosely was left by Hakuba's locals.

What I noticed there was the level of the shooting party, including myself.

If I could go, it would be too dangerous to go at the level of the current party.

I haven't been able to go through the process up to that point.

We want to reach that place by ourselves someday.

With the line sideways, I went to shoot a jump that I don't usually do on this day.

I don't really like to make terrain and slide on my own.

But, while saying "Ahhhhhhh", we slide together, fly, laugh, and praise each other.

I think it's not a bad day to relax, but that line revives in the corner of my head.

Expectations and challenges for the next.Every day I wrestled with difficult snow.

It's been a month since I was able to get to know Hakuba a little bit.

I want to stay here for years, and I don't think I can do it now.

I lived in Hakuba, where I felt the difference between the locals and the visitors.

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Life in Japan is also at the end.It's almost time to fly to Canada.

At the invitation of head teammate Masaomi Harada, I decided to go to Tenjindaira in Gunma.

Shooting for one day only.The weather is delicate and the snow conditions are barely enough.It's a little far from Hakuba, but Masaomi's invitation is the only way to go.

And it is Yamato Maehara who is also head.He is a local Takaradai tree near Tenjin, has a house in the ski resort, runs a rest house on weekends, and snowboards mainly in the local area, a genuine local in Gunma and Minakami.

Masaomi Harada who gave me the opportunity to go to the mountains three years ago.Yamato Maehara, a local on the water.And Tanigawadake Tenjindaira, who hadn't been able to hear only the rumors that it was good until now.Mens, places, and expectations that it would definitely be a good session shook off the tiredness of shooting that day and drove to Gunma.

The next morning, when I looked up at the sky, it was a sunny day with no clouds.When you go up to the mountain and look around, you can see the scenery that reminds you of Canada.

Why didn't you come until now?The scenery that seemed like that made me strongly feel both the steepness of the mountain and the beauty of the mountain.

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head "YAMAGAWA" A member who lives facing the mountains in the head.Hokkaido, Gunma, and Canada are based in different places, so the three people couldn't get together.It's finally time to stand in the same place.

The first mens in the first place.This time, the side to learn.Let's learn well.

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After all the local knows everything well.

From the position of the trees, the change in slope, the quality of the snow, and the flowing slip that seemed to know this mountain, strongly showed that he lived here.

You can see what kind of person the person is by looking at the line after slipping.Slowly, politely, and sometimes boldly.Yamato itself.

Find yourself in an unknown place in a limited time.

Carve a line on the white ground given in front of you.

Even if you don't exchange words, you can understand each other by slipping.

Receive something that you don't have and bite it in your heart.

Feeling the end of the day without exchanging words,

Go home without looking back.

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head "YAMAGAWA"

I was convinced that something new would be born from here.

It's not now, it's ahead.

When three people who fly around freely meet.

We don't wait for that time, but when the lines meet each other.

This is just the beginning.from now.

With that in mind, I returned to Hakuba once before my flight to Canada.

There was one thing I wanted to do in Hakuba.

That is to enjoy snowboarding together.And tell everyone your own snowboard.

We all wanted to have a free riding contest.

The name of the contest is quite appropriate, "Fujita Classic".

Attack the slopes of the bumps with all your might and compete for turn accuracy, creativity (trick, etc.) and time.

Surprisingly, everyone was serious about the one-off game, and it may have been fresh because I don't usually do much time.

Judges also do it together, and everyone can see the slip.You can see the slip, not the jump.

I wanted people to feel the fun of the basic snowboarding, and I wanted everyone to enjoy it.

Riders and cameramen work together to attack just the slopes.

The bumps were so deep that everyone fell, laughed, listened to the time and regretted.

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What is snowboarding?

Snowboarding for me is a tool for sliding down mountains.

A tool that takes you to various places.

It cuts the wind, feels vibrations from the ground, sometimes jumps out into the sky, and feels gravity.

It takes you to a sensation that you have never experienced.

For me who is looking for "first time", he always gives me something new and sharpens my heart.

The walls that appear one after another make me feel like climbing, and expectations for the other side that I haven't seen yet are growing.

Pioneer – Hakuba

One month I lived because I wanted to develop Hakuba.

Snowboarding may have pioneered me.

Text: Kazushige Fujita

Photo: Kazushige Fujita, Yugo Tamagaki

Location: Hakuba, Tenjin

* Riding photos are taken from the video.Hakuba's one was taken by yugo and can be seen in the new HYWOD released in the fall of 2014 and others.


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