Mori Mori Sagamiko
On the outskirts of Tokyo, in the hills near Fuji lies a unique experience.
Based on a recent trip to Japan, it seemed to me that there are two kind of theme parks in Japan. On one hand you have the super huge Disney and Universal powerhouses. Big money, big crowd, big theme. Shy of Universals bizarre fasciation with emptying your pockets (not money, but actual metal detectors to be sure you have nothing in your pockets when you ride stuff- very, very strange), these parks are almost perfect. Everything is clean, new and the food is amazing.
Then you have the other theme parks in Japan. All significantly less crowded, less shiny, less themed, and certainly less well kept. In fact, some are quite deadly, but I won't get into that. Ask my Son about it, he loved looking into that dark side of the parks. All of these theme parks seem to be stuck in a long, slow funeral. All trying to emulate the 1955 version of Disneyland with very, very minimal degrees of success (if you squint). They all seem haunted. I have visited many abandoned theme parks in my days. Visiting these Japan theme parks feels like you are in an abandoned park, but with all the rides running. The paint is faded, the stickers are peeling off, the trashcans are broken, and the concrete on all the curbs is crumbling.
Having that said, that was kind of cool, in a dystopian-urbex-dark-tourism kind of way.
Play the slow music box sound effects- Mori Mori Sagamiko was certainty the later kind of park. My daughter loved this park because it was she thought it was creepy. Teenagers. The one saving grace they had in my mind was a light festival they hold for almost half of the year. We visited ONLY for the lights. We were not disappointed. It was foggy and raining buckets, but that just added to the experience, and apparently, the crowds. The signature part of the light festival is the chair-lift. The Mario-like rainbow-road underneath the lift was very very cool.
Cudos to the park for allowing tripods (no one else in Japan seems to). We could not have any images without them. And, naturally, thank you Japan for the amazing cheap clear umbrellas at every convenience store. It was worth getting soaked to visit this place.
Let me know what you think.
Mori Mori Sagamiko
On the outskirts of Tokyo, in the hills near Fuji lies a unique experience.
Based on a recent trip to Japan, it seemed to me that there are two kind of theme parks in Japan. On one hand you have the super huge Disney and Universal powerhouses. Big money, big crowd, big theme. Shy of Universals bizarre fasciation with emptying your pockets (not money, but actual metal detectors to be sure you have nothing in your pockets when you ride stuff- very, very strange), these parks are almost perfect. Everything is clean, new and the food is amazing.
Then you have the other theme parks in Japan. All significantly less crowded, less shiny, less themed, and certainly less well kept. In fact, some are quite deadly, but I won't get into that. Ask my Son about it, he loved looking into that dark side of the parks. All of these theme parks seem to be stuck in a long, slow funeral. All trying to emulate the 1955 version of Disneyland with very, very minimal degrees of success (if you squint). They all seem haunted. I have visited many abandoned theme parks in my days. Visiting these Japan theme parks feels like you are in an abandoned park, but with all the rides running. The paint is faded, the stickers are peeling off, the trashcans are broken, and the concrete on all the curbs is crumbling.
Having that said, that was kind of cool, in a dystopian-urbex-dark-tourism kind of way.
Play the slow music box sound effects- Mori Mori Sagamiko was certainty the later kind of park. My daughter loved this park because it was she thought it was creepy. Teenagers. The one saving grace they had in my mind was a light festival they hold for almost half of the year. We visited ONLY for the lights. We were not disappointed. It was foggy and raining buckets, but that just added to the experience, and apparently, the crowds. The signature part of the light festival is the chair-lift. The Mario-like rainbow-road underneath the lift was very very cool.
Cudos to the park for allowing tripods (no one else in Japan seems to). We could not have any images without them. And, naturally, thank you Japan for the amazing cheap clear umbrellas at every convenience store. It was worth getting soaked to visit this place.
Let me know what you think.