The man who makes Japan rock

HONG KONG, China (CNN) -- Masahiro Hidaka is the man who makes Japan's hills come alive with the sound of music each year.

For three days at the end of July, the green slopes around the Naeba ski resort in Japan become the temporary home to around 130,000 music fans and 100 bands for the annual Fuji Rock Festival.

From indie demigods My Bloody Valentine to Brazilian electro-pop fun-machine, CSS, a line-up from across the world and Japan will be providing the crowd with an extended hit of music, teenage kicks and hazy memories.

For 59-year-old Hidaka the festival is the culmination of a full year's planning and meticulous preparation with his music promotion company Smash Corporation.

"We are a small company but we work with many different companies to make it happen; in all over 2,200 staff to make the festival run smoothly," he said.

Now in its 11th year, the festival has built up an international reputation as one of the best music festivals around. Quite a feat considering there had never been a large outdoor rock festival in Japan until Hidaka set up the first in 1997.

"With experience you get better at doing it and all the time it gets a little bigger or better. It's like growing up and getting good at what you do,' he told CNN.

Hidaka's own personal musical enlightenment was founded during trips to the Glastonbury festival in the UK in the 1970s and 80s. Inspired, he wanted to recreate that spirit and feeling in Japan.

"Smash Corp was set up in 1983 and we were doing well as a company, but a festival is a huge undertaking, a major risk. There was shock at first but a company always needs a challenge to survive. Then the main problem was to find a site."

That first festival took place on Mount Fuji -- and what could go wrong, did. A typhoon swept across the site halfway through the Red Hot Chilli Peppers set and the next two days had to be cancelled.

"The audience was so tired and unprepared for the festival," he told CNN. "I had a fear of injury or fatality and that would be the end of everything. But one thing; the dream became a reality and the audience was educated and they wanted it more. It took us five to six years to recover financially."

Undaunted, Hidaka and his team found a new site for the festival the next year -- but one of their biggest challenges was to change attitudes.

"Most local people who were mainly farmers had never heard rock music nor had any concept why fans would gather to listen to music outdoors. I had to explain what rock music was. I would make reports for the local committees but they would never read them and it took over a year of meetings and meetings before they began to trust me.

"The festival brings a lot of revenue to the local people and this has made things easier. But I still think they are waiting for something to happen and this keeps us active," he said.

Unlike so many music festivals that have sprung up in the last ten years that have company logos plastered everywhere, Fuji Rock remains generally free of corporate affiliation -- and most festival veterans would agree it is all the better for it.

Despite Smash's precarious financial situation after that first typhoon-terrorized festival, the lure of corporate cash to help smooth the ride for future festivals was resisted and still isn't courted by Hidaka and Smash Corp.

"Tokyo is full of products on display at every corner but Fuji Rock is a holiday from that stuff. We don't allow handouts, fliers, or give-aways, banners or product campaigns at the festival. We don't look for sponsorship. It's more about trying to keep them away. But sometimes they have good ideas and realize their products don't have to be omnipresent. Often we have to educate them," he said.

The festival is now a firm fixture of the rock music calendar in Japan with its diverse line-up of acts, relaxed atmosphere, and things like clean toilets -- a small joy at a festival -- plus hotels nearby for those allergic to camping.

Hidaka can personally boast an OBE from the UK, not just for services to festival-goers bathroom facilities, but in recognition for his work in bridging British and Japanese culture.

Ennobled and wiser after 11 years hosting one of the world's biggest outdoor festival, Hidaka has also retuned to the site of that first ill-fated event, with another festival called The Asagiri Jam.

"It has 12,000 capacity and sells out every year. There are no train stations or hotels nearby. It is at the foot of Mount Fuji, you have to camp and it is cold at night. This is our alternative. A festival is only too big if you feel impersonal at it. The skill is to make it a great memory, of music friends and good times."

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