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Photo TR: Divv's Japanese Adventure


Divv3k

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I think I have seen the movies you mention at Shibuya crossing. Japan indeed was amazing and I wish my Japanese was as good as Elissa's. Maybe then I could understand what that old Japanese guy at the graveyard had to say. The memories this report brings back. Great work Divv.

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The next day was a very special day for the majority of us as it was our first opportunity to ride Japan’s famous Shinkansen aka The Bullet Train! So it was an early start as we took the bullet train all the way down to Hakata in the south of Japan.

 

Luckily for us our hotel was conveniently located not far from Kashiikaen, a small park with a couple of coaster. Unluckily for us it was pretty rainy and it didn’t look like we’d get to ride anything.

 

But amazingly, Elissa with her incredible negotiating skills managed to persuade the park staff to open the coasters for us so we could get the credits! Unbelievable, just another example of the tour operators going above and beyond for the participants!

 

The evening was capped off with some Yakitori at this little place that Robb had found on a previous visit. Let me just say it was AMAZING! Let me also just say – CHEESE WRAPPED WITH BACON ON STICKS!

 

Here are the photos…

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How’s that for a view out your window to greet you in the morning?

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Even better was the driving school on the roof of our neighbouring building!

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Now for another first - it’s bullet train time!!!

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Scottish Steve absolutely loves the Shinkansen!

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We got Kashiikaen in the evening and the rain situation once again wasn’t good. It was looking like the trip could be starting out with some missed credits.

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But amazingly due to some excellent negotiating by Robb and Elissa we got our credits! I’ve no idea what those guys offered the park but it worked!

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These guys can’t wait to ride the Bee!

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Yay, more credits in spite of the rain!

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You can always count on TPR to make the most of any chance to whore themselves up to the max.

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OCTOPOOS!!! (Hi Erik!)

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Now it was time for our first experience with these hug Togo machines that are seemingly all over Japan.

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Note that this is not TPDave’s umbrella. It is Larry’s. TPDave should not be in possession of this umbrella, neither should anybody else because this umbrella is one of Larry’s most prized posessions.

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So back to the Togo thing. It was… okay. Not bad, not good, just a rollercoaster!

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The Japanese sure love their helices!

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Scottish Steve at last shows Japan what they’ve been waiting an age to see – THE RUG!!!

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This was our second hotel. And like the first one it was in a great location close to the station with lots of cool places to go explore.

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Just when you feel like there’s no one you know in Japan you find this guy. He’s a personal friend of mine.

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Scottish loves his balls nude and crunky.

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The best thing about Hakata was this Yakitori restaurant that Robb introduced us to. This could quite possibly be my favourite place in the world to eat!

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You see that? That’s melted cheese wrapped in bacon on sticks. SOOOO GOOD!!!

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After the eating frenzy a few of checked out the multi-storey Japanese electronics store. It was pretty cool.

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Hi Larry, we have umbrellas too! Not as awesome or as highly valued as a red economist one though.

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Japan has Honey Lemon Fanta – I’m all over that! Did I mention that I love this country yet? Because I really do!

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I think if Theme Park Review were nothing but Japan trip reports, I'd still come as often as I do now.

 

I love this TR so far. Makes me realize that the next time TPR goes to japan, I need to go.

 

TOTALLY.

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I remember watching the weather get worse and worse as we traveled the mere 681 miles on the bullet train in just a few hours...luckily it all worked out and we got kick ass food too!

 

I have a love/hate relationship with all of these Japan Trip Reports, I love them, but then I hate them cause I want to be back there right now!!!

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Our next park was one of the first "big parks" of trip - Space World! This was a nice park, they have a theme and boy do they stick to it!

 

There's some decent coasters and interesting coasters here, the Arrow hyper and Japanese Stealth being the big two. There's also some other interesting contraptions like the forward/backward coaster and the Black Hole indoor coaster.

 

This was another day when rain was a theme but amazingly we still managed to get all of our credits and ride everything we wanted to. There's also a live horror maze in the park which is always a plus in my book!

 

Oh yeah, there was also the little issue of substantiating the authenticness of a certain space craft too...

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Today was the first “Big” park of the trip – Space World!

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Replica or Real Spaceship? Will we ever find out the truth?

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Jes wants to get his photo with the Spaceship just in case it is real.

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I have it on good authority that this plaque lies. It is absolutely a real spaceship and not a replica.

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Whether it's real or fake there’s a still a coaster to be rode and we had ERT!

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It wouldn’t be one of my TRs without bringing back a recurring joke that only about four people find funny! Well I’m one of the four dammit and I find photos of Erik licking large plastic ice cream cones highly amusing. Please note that I have no desire to see photos of Erik licking anything else however.

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Japanese Stealth! Better than regular Stealth. Why? Because it’s in Japan and not in Thorpe!

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TPDave finally gets a Qoo.

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Uh oh! I thought we were miles away from all that!

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Arrow Hyper time! Hello Titan!

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Just like your average Arrow Hyper it goes up the lift hill. The difference with this one is that it’s in Japan.

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It’s better than The Big One and that’s not just because it’s in Japan!

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TPR are loving themselves some Titan! Japanese girl in the front has just spied some green monster making off with a red umbrella though.

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As I came to find it is law in Japan that all theme parks have some form of giant wheel.

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We have a place called the Vicky Lounge in Glasgow. Please note that it is nothing like this one though.

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Check out Larry, in his natural habitat, overlording it up to the max.

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The kiddie coaster was apparently a bit temperamental but luckily the majority of us managed to get the credit.

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As kiddies go it wasn’t too bad!

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The backwards/forwards death machine was a ride once affair for me. The rest of the guys seemed to enjoy re-riding though. Guess I just hate riding backwards. On rollercoasters.

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No Aliens in the water!

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OMG, it’s Japanese Peena Puu! That stupid tree from Finland is still giving me photos and captions for TRs year later!

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This is the indoor rollercoaster station. Can’t really remember what it was like!

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TPDave is all about the Happy Return!

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Go on guys, dive in!

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Caution: Scare in motion!

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It was little details in theming like this that made me really like Space World. They have their theme for their park and they’re sticking to it!

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Alien themed horror mazes do not appeal to Scottish for some unknown reason.

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Andrew asking where was the drop tower portion of the maze?

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Lunch in the Colonel’s Lounge sounds like a great idea to me!

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A Wa-Fu Chicken Cutlet, Nuggets and Melon Fanta! I love visiting fast food places in new countries to try out local menu items!

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4D theatre! I wonder what delights await us in here?

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OMG, it’s Panda-fucking-vision! I’m losing track of how many parks I’ve seen this in now!

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And now for a first. These rapids really are cutting edge.

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Yeah, these are the only rapids in world that soak you from the bottom of the boat up! Bizarre!

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With the rain beginning to lash down again we figured we could find some cover in the form of the Giant Arse Wheel.

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Andrew and Tom cosy up together for a hot and sweaty encounter inside Hendrix.

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Despite the rain I really liked Space World. And once again we got all the rides in even with the strict rain policies in Japanese parks!

 

Nice one, Space World!

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Back in the hotel we encountered on the TV what seemed to be some kind of inferior Japanese version of Yo Gabba Gabba.

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WiFi Party!!! The local electronics store had free WiFi which is a bit of hot commodity in Japan so it was often a hang out point for tour participants!

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Tool.

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Love in an elevator!

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This night we decided to check out another restaurant in the Hakata area. This one was another of those cool Japanese concept restaurants…

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It’s a vending machine restaurant!

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Here’s TPDave not ordering a Katsu curry.

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What you do is buy your meal from the machine, which gives you a ticket. You then give your ticket to the waiter and he brings you your dinner!

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Jes loves his Vending Machine meal!

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Here’s my Vend-a-Meal! It was very good! I’m loving these different Japanese restaurants!

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No beer left? Go to the vending machine and order another!

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Pub takeover!!! We came all the way to Japan to check out the British pub. That’s how we roll.

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Cheers!

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Not content with the beer I had in the pub it was back to the hotel for a nightcap!

 

Back with more soon!

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別の素晴らしい旅行レポート別の素晴らしい旅行レポート別の素晴らしい旅行レポート別の素晴らしい旅行レポート別の素晴Space World may be just behind the Tokyo Disney parks on my Japanese lust list. Super happy space smile thrill shuttle!

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The looping coaster around the shuttle replica is one of the first Maurer-Söhne coasters after they aquired the former Schwarzkopf coaster division from BHS. Still has some features of Jetline or Lisebergbanan.

 

How was it compared to classic Schwarzkopf coasters?

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I thought it almost seemed like a Schwarzkoph looper combined with a crazy helix section that reminded me a lot of the back half of Titan/Goliath. The only thing (for me) that kept it from being really high on my list, was that it had really uncomfortable restraints. If this had lapbars only, I think it would be ranked really well.

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Next up was our first two park day! This was also a little bit of a throwback to traditional TPR trips as it involved a couple of bus rides!

 

Our first park was Kijima, a park up in the hills with a very scenic setting. This is absolutely one of those quirky parks that just feels "Japanese", I don't really know how else to describe it!

 

The big coaster, Jupiter isn't the best by any means but it looks really good and the park's management even acknowledged that our ride may be a bit "bouncy". There's also a good selection flats and indoor rides.

 

Here's some photos...

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Start the day healthy with a green tea donut! Thanks Mister Donut!

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Back to old-style TPR tripping this morning!

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Scottish Steve loves his bus trips.

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Today’s first park – Kijima!

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Park entrance photo. Just in case the Park Index ever requires such photos. We’re future-proofed, Larry!

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Iced coffee from a vending machine appears to be a new concept for Scottish.

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First coaster – Gold Rush. A comfortable experience for all!

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Well maybe not everyone. But it was memorable at least!

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It’s just a Vekoma!

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Scottish loves that it’s just a Vekoma!

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Terry is clearly loving the powered dragon!

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Such a nice setting for a park!

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Unfortunately the green coaster would be off limits for us today. No worries!

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Kijima’s big ride is Jupiter. One of the “bounciest” woodies you might ride! Gotta love the TPR takeover!

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It looks nice though, right?

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This is the stuff that Andrew’s nightmares are made of!

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Another weird Japanese concept – the covered splashboat!

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Full on skloosh protection.

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The covered boat is TPApproved!

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Another awesome thing about Japanese restaurants is all the plastic versions of the meals that they display in the windows. Makes not being able to read the menu much less of an issue!

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My choice – Chicken Katsu Curry! Good stuff!

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That’s a lot of Katsus!

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Steve vs Wallet. Current score: Wallet 2 – Steve 0

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Kijima is also home to the most cutting edge of ride technologies. Move over Forbidden Journey, make way for Galactic Bumper Cars!

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Notice the extra theming in the form of cardboard boxes in the background!

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Shooting pirates was another favourite, think of Pirates of the Caribean and Buzz Lightyear but without any of the budget or technology and you get something like this.

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Everyone took Shooting Pirates VERY seriously!

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The flying island theming was brilliant!

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The views of the park were pretty cool too!

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That’s where Andrew tried to kill himself!

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Shut your eyes, Andrew!!

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Jupiter looks really cool in amongst the hills and clouds!

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Spinning teacups aren’t for me so I went a wander by myself for a few minutes.

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OMG, where did Godzilla get that prized red umbrella from???

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This would be the park's “Main Street” - just goes to show the lack of people here yet again.

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Anyone else remember Cadbury’s Dream? Japan's the place to go for these now!

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That’s it from Kijima,a very friendly and hospitable park. It’s genuinely one of those picturesque, quirky Japanese parks I’d been hoping to encounter!

 

Our second park of the day, Wonder Rakutenchi will be up next!

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The stork-lifted flying island is indeed awesome, and this park gets bonus points for its brief cameo in "Godzilla vs. Space Godzilla."

 

Love the shot of the red-railed Jupiter that makes it look like it's already undergone the Iron Horse treatment.

 

There is still a 2013 Japan trip in the works, yes? I'm about to commit to a life of crime to go on that one, so please, don't let me down.

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