You can tell a lot about a festival from its website. Consider, for example, Japan’s Fuji Rock Festival, which begins today. Three days, 70,000 people and more than 100 bands — headlined this year by Coldplay, Beck, New Order, the Beach Boys and a late addition, Primal Scream.

When it comes to rocking the eastern hemisphere, Fuji Rock is generally considered the biggest and the brightest — well worth the £190 for a three-day ticket.

It sounds cool, doesn’t it? It sounds like Glastonbury (which is rumoured to be the inspiration). And then you look at the website.

All festivals give advice on what to take with you. But few remind you to bring: “hand towels (handy as sun shade, wipe, cooler, etc); “hat (to avoid sunburn, heat). A must”; “portable ashtray. A must for a smoker”; “rubbish bin bag (very useful)”; “pocket tissue (in case there’s no toilet paper)” and an “instant rescue set (so that you can take care of any minor injuries)”. “Use a day pack or rucksack for the above items so that both your hands are free,” it adds helpfully. Oh — and although you can’t bring an umbrella, you may use a parasol in certain areas.

So far, so Japanese — this is, after all, a country where there are advertisements in the underground asking you to be considerate when reading your newspaper, and announcements warn you not to hurt yourself on the escalators. It’s safe, it’s well organised, and the countryside is beautiful (Fuji Rock is held in Naeba, a ski resort and nature reserve north of Tokyo, and hasn’t, despite the name, been anywhere near Mount Fuji since its debut in 1997). The acts are never late, the Portaloos are clean, there is no loud music near the campsite after 11pm and the driver of the courtesy bus from the bullet train station always looks dapper in a peak cap, waistcoat, tie and white gloves. It’s . . . nice. But it’s not exactly rock’n’roll, is it?

And yet, the bands — and the audience — love it. Fatboy Slim likes it so much that this year he is playing on his birthday, and bringing 30 mates with him. Last year, Muse spent their summer holiday at the festival, even though they weren’t performing. Rockers tend to mix with the people too — you might spot Patti Smith wandering through the crowds, or, if you’re really unlucky, Bez hanging out in the tent next to you.

The organisers, Smash Corporation, unsurprisingly take umbrage at the idea that Fuji might be missing something anarchic.

“Rock’n’roll is about free spirit in an alternative lifestyle — not petty crime or binge drinking,” says Stephen Malit, Smash’s UK spokesman. “Ask Keith Allen. He came over a couple of years ago with Joe Strummer and said it was amazing and life-enhancing — he did 24-hour karaoke in a silver cowboy hat on his home-made stage beside Joe’s campfire. Or Primal Scream — half the band hid under the rookie stage until 6am on Sunday morning so they could pretend they missed the flight to stay for the last day.”

Surely that’s rock’n’roll enough for you.

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