Welcoming the Unknown:
How Generosity and Openness Shaped Fujino Today
In 1986, new momentum emerged when Kanagawa Prefecture introduced the Fujino Hometown Art Village Concept as part of its regional development plan. In 1988, the “Message from the Forest and Lake” project brought international symposiums and outdoor environmental sculpture exhibitions to the area. From 1990 onward, the initiative continued under the name Fujino Hometown Art Village Message Project, evolving in form and scale while continuing to this day.
At the same time, independent of these government-led efforts, a wide range of grassroots activities began to take shape across Fujino. Among them were artist-in-residence (AIR) programs—initiatives that invite artists from various disciplines to stay for a period of time, creating work and conducting research.
Kenichi Nakamura, Representative Director of the Fujino Area Management Association and a former employee of the Fujino Town Office, was closely involved in supporting these programs. Looking back, he reflects on the residencies that once existed and the impact they had on the town.
Profile
Kenichi Nakamura
Born in the former town of Fujino, Nakamura began working at the Fujino Town Office in 1970, where he was involved in welfare services and community development. He retired in 2004 following municipal mergers.
In 2010, he founded Fujino Art Village; in 2013, the Fujino Satoyama Exchange Council; and in 2015, the Fujino Area Management Association, where he serves as Representative Director.
In 1986, new momentum emerged when Kanagawa Prefecture introduced the Fujino Hometown Art Village Concept as part of its regional development plan. In 1988, the “Message from the Forest and Lake” project brought international symposiums and outdoor environmental sculpture exhibitions to the area. From 1990 onward, the initiative continued under the name Fujino Hometown Art Village Message Project, evolving in form and scale while continuing to this day.
At the same time, independent of these government-led efforts, a wide range of grassroots activities began to take shape across Fujino. Among them were artist-in-residence (AIR) programs—initiatives that invite artists from various disciplines to stay for a period of time, creating work and conducting research.
Kenichi Nakamura, Representative Director of the Fujino Area Management Association and a former employee of the Fujino Town Office, was closely involved in supporting these programs. Looking back, he reflects on the residencies that once existed and the impact they had on the town.
At the time, the Austrian government ran a program sending young artists abroad, with bases in cities such as London, Paris, New York, and Chicago. Tokyo was chosen as the next location—but Lang insisted otherwise.
“He kept saying, ‘Tokyo isn’t right,’” Nakamura recalls. “Then one day, he suddenly brought the ambassador to Fujino.”
Although it was highly unusual for an ambassador to visit such a small town, the visit took place. The ambassador was struck by the atmosphere of a traditional farmhouse in the Shinohara district and the surrounding satoyama landscape, and decided on the spot to establish the residency there.
In 1996, the “Austria Millennium Festival in Fujino” was held, organized by local artists including Alois Lang, with partial support from the town.
A couple of artists created an installation using small bundles made from tissue paper—each one containing a dead insect that had fallen from their ceiling. The room was filled with these quiet, repetitive forms.
“I didn’t really understand it,” Nakamura says with a laugh. “But even the ambassador came to see it.”
At the same time, this openness was not without limits.
“The residency was certainly appealing,” Nakamura says, “but it’s not as if everyone in the town embraced it. Visitors were limited, and there was some distance.”
Around 2003, as discussions of municipal mergers began, the residency came to an end. Official reasons included its remote location, difficulty of access from Tokyo, and the cold winter climate. It was later relocated to Arakawa in Tokyo.
Nakamura believes another factor also played a role:
“There was an elderly woman nearby who took care of the artists—she spoke English, helped translate, and looked after them. Without people like that, these kinds of efforts are difficult to sustain.”
Still, over the course of ten years, nearly one hundred artists came to Fujino through the program.
“That alone is remarkable,” Nakamura says. “It contributed to raising the cultural awareness of the community.”
This connection eventually led Fujino’s mayor and officials to visit Değirmendere in Turkey, even opening discussions about a possible sister-city relationship.
A single residency had quietly expanded into a connection between distant communities.
“Most towns focus on physical development,” Nakamura says. “But Fujino values people—the human side—more than infrastructure.”
He notes that the town has shown a certain generosity and openness toward diversity. Foreigners, artists, people with disabilities, and LGBTQ individuals have been received with relatively little resistance compared to other places.
“This may be because people from different backgrounds have long come and gone here,” he suggests. “Not everyone fully embraces it, but there is an understanding.”
Nakamura also points to the role of former mayor Tomoaki Kurata, who served six terms.
“He was a very generous person in spirit,” Nakamura says. “When the prefecture suddenly told Fujino to pursue art as its direction, he didn’t resist. He accepted it, and encouraged others to do the same.”
This sense of generosity—of allowing things to unfold without rigid control—became a defining quality of the town.
“In the end, it was those people who transformed the town,” Nakamura reflects. “We didn’t build much in terms of infrastructure, but we came to understand the importance of people.”
“People come expecting something to see,” Nakamura says. “But there isn’t much in that sense, so they often leave disappointed. It’s not really a tourist destination.”
Instead, Fujino is a place where people come to live—and feel glad that they did.
With strengths in healthcare, education, welfare, and culture, and a community that includes hundreds of artists, the town offers a quietly rich way of life shaped by diversity and shared experience.
This is not something built by a single vision. It has emerged over time, through the presence and contributions of many individuals.
By welcoming difference—artists, foreigners, people of various identities—Fujino has cultivated both generosity and resilience.
Artist-in-residence programs were one part of this process. By living alongside what was not fully understood, the community gradually expanded its openness and generosity of spirit.
家で暮らしInterview and text by Yuki Hirakawa
、アロイズ・ラングさんでした。