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https://www.japantoday.com/category/national/view/theme-park-criticized-over-frozen-fish-in-rink-to-close-at-end-of-2017

 

Theme park criticized over frozen fish in rink to close at end of 2017

National Dec. 17, 2016 FUKUOKA

 

An amusement park in southwestern Japan that sparked a flood of criticism for using thousands of frozen fish in an ice rink said Friday it will be closing at the end of 2017.

 

Space World in Kitakyushu, Fukuoka Prefecture, closed the skating rink last month after people complained about its attraction in which around 5,000 fish purchased from a market were embedded in the ice to give the impression of skating on the sea. An online rumor at the time claimed the fish had been frozen alive.

 

The theme park, which opened in April 1990 on an unused lot of the Yawata steelworks, did not specify the reason for the closure.

 

It had 2.16 million visitors at its peak in fiscal 1997, but the number of visitors has dwindled recently.

 

“We will be closing on the last day of December 2017 for various reasons,” the park said on its website. “We thank you for your patronage for such a long time.”

 

Space World informed the Kitakyushu city government of its closure plan on Thursday, municipal officials said.

 

The city held talks the same day with Nippon Steel & Sumitomo Metal Corp., the landowner of the facility, about future plans for the 240,000-square-meter site.

 

Nippon Steel promised to seek a tenant for the land taking the promotion of the local economy into consideration, the officials said.

 

Both Kitakyushu Mayor Kenji Kitahashi and Fukuoka Gov. Hiroshi Ogawa expressed concern about the closure’s effect on the local economy.

 

Space World “has led the tourism industry as a symbol of the city,” Kitahashi said in a statement. “It is truly regrettable,” he said.

 

Resort operator Kamori Kanko Co. based in Sapporo, northern Japan, has been running the theme park.

 

A subsidiary of then Nippon Steel Corp. filed for court protection from creditors in May 2005 and handed over the management rights of the park to Kamori Kanko in July that year.

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Posted

Sad to read.

 

I thought it had one of the best sci fi (horror?) walk throughs in Japan - Alien Panic Attack (I think that's it's name).

Posted

Hopefully another park buys their coasters! This is sad news though. I thought attendance was always above the 1 million mark. I guess that wasn't enough for them to survive...

Posted

Well that is a sad.

 

Save Venus? Save Titan?

 

I'd love for another park (preferably one close to me) to save Venus. It's such a unique looking coaster, and Maurer has never built anything else like it.

Posted

This is too bad. Space World was a unique, quirky park that I enjoyed quite a bit back in 2007.

Posted

Looks like I need to take a trip to Japan next year to say goodbye to one of the many amazing places in Japan. The day we visited back in 2015 was gray and rainy but I had some of the most fun there!

Posted

Crap, I passed through Kitakyushu earlier this year, but I didn't visit. Hopefully it's just a ploy to get people coming back after the massive backlash over the ice rink.

Posted

I'd been planning to get to Japan for many years now, but have been putting it off for various different reasons. But considering how Space World is one of the parks I was planning on visiting, this'll probably get me to stop procrastinating and just go next year so that I'll get to go.

Posted

This is unfortunate. Hopefully Zaturn and possibly Venus will find a new home. I frankly wouldn't be surprised if Titan got scrapped all together, although it did just get new trains so who knows.

Posted

Sad news. I wonder if that skating rink was the coffin's last nail.

 

It will definitely be interesting to see what happens to the attractions. Especially Zaturn and the S&S trains on Titan.

Posted

I've always wanted to ride Venus and the park's weird log flume with a helix. Sad to see the park go I hope they can at least relocate Venus and Zaturn.

Posted

So sad to hear that Space World will be closing. I'm glad I got to visit this park in 2015, although I didn't get to ride Venus GP because it was a "rain out" day. Hopefully Zaturn, Titan Max, and Venus GP get relocated, although I don't think Venus GP will be the same if it doesn't get relocated with the NASA rocket. I also hope they can find a way to sell and relocate the weird log flume with a helix, Twin Mercury to another park - that ride was an awesome surprise when I rode it.

Posted

Titan is probably going to the scrap yard. It's just too hard to move those old Arrow coasters that are welded together, especially of that magnitude. Wouldn't be surprised if Blackpool Pleasure Beach and/or Cedar Point (unlikely) are interested in the S&S trains.

 

I saw Zaturn up for sale somewhere for a while now, and Venus may be relocated as well. Hopefully those two can be saved. With Kaonen (spelling?) on the market as well, I wonder where these accelerator coasters will go.

Posted

Major bummer. I really enjoyed this park on the 2007 TPR trip. Lots of fun rides here and Alien Space Encounter (I think it was called that or something similar) had one of the best walk thru gags I'd ever experienced! Freaked me out!!!

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