Thrillography: Hanayashiki + Tokyo Dome City + General Toyko Kawaii-ness: Thrillography's Asian Persuasion Tour 2017 Trip Report

Konichiwa :}

Finally! The time has come! Thrillography has made it to

🗾JAPAN!🗾

To commemorate this exciting milestone, Thrillography will for the first time feature emojis, one of Japan's latest and most ubiquitous cultural phenomenons. 🎉😄🎊

We've made it to Japan! I can't think of a foreign country that's on more Americans' bucket lists! Now I get to cross it off of mine! Who's ready for a kawaii (cute/awesome) day?!

Tucked away in the heart of downtown Tokyo is something very special.

⛩ Asakusa, Taito, Tokyo is home to Japan's oldest temple. ⛩

The temple's thresholds are lined with dozens upon dozens of shops. Souvenirs and food reign supreme.

It was surreal seeing in the flesh things that I'd drooled over on the internet for years. Candy sushi and bento!

Superior-quality rice cakes.

Rice cakes get a bad rap because of those flavorless Quaker frisbees that people are supposed to eat on diets. If all rice cakes were these, people wouldn't have a problem making the switch from other snacks.

These little beauties right here are fresh dango dumplings! Sweet, sticky rice fluffies covered in brown sugar!

Now you know what the 🍡 emoji is for. :}

Beautiful paper products; another Japanese tradition.

See that roof all the way back there? That's where we're headed.

Aesthetic is so incredibly important in Japan. Evidence of this is everywhere – right down to the polished chocolate truffles.

And beautiful, perfect rice crackers with detailed stenciled designs or wrapped in nori.🍘

Or meticulously-crafted dorayaki pressed into amazing 3D shapes.

I just want to eat it all.

🍘🍙🍚🍢🍣🍥🍛🍜🍧🍱🍲🍰🍶

Finally after passing through all of the shops, we reach the temple!

(this isn't the temple. It's another threshold for the temple)

🏮

Behold! Japan's oldest temple!
⛬⛫🏯

Behold! The S&S Space Shot of the amusement park next to Japan's oldest temple!

A service is in progress inside the temple. Thousands of people a day come here to pay their respects.

If you like Japanese architecture, come here. It's the real deal.

Just outside the temple gardens is the Hanayashiki, Japan's oldest amusement park!

South of the temple is all of the shopping. Just west of it is Hanayashiki.

🐠🐟

💧💧💧💧💧

It is just beautiful here. Tokyo is just what I'd dreamed.

The dreams also looked something like this. :}

🎟🎟🎟🎟🎟🎟

Hanayashiki's bread and butter is their little roller coaster (called "Roller Coaster").

Roller Coaster was constructed in 1953 to commemorate Hanayashiki's 100th anniversary. It is Japan's first true, full-scale roller coaster.

Roller Coaster's prototype track system predates Matterhorn Bobsleds by 7 years, giving the ride and its manufacturer, Togo, a rarely-mentioned claim to fame: The oldest, and possibly first, successful modern steel coaster.

Like Matterhorn Bobsleds, Hanayashiki's Roller Coaster took on the many setbacks of steel coasters at the time, whose flimsy, flat rails were only good for very shallow drops and extremely lightweight vehicles (hence the 1950's numerous steel wild mice and kiddie coasters). Double reinforced "I"-shaped rails joined by a central spine (a now-standard arrangement along with Arrow's tubular rails) allowed for Roller Coaster's relatively astounding height, speed, and capacity.

To this day, Roller Coaster runs like a champ. It's a solid, thrilling, cleverly-arranged ride. Lots of near misses with other rides and a few strategically-placed tunnels. Hanayashiki clearly takes great care of this ride; it rides like new.

Hanayashiki opend in 1853 as a flower garden. Toward the end of the first golden era of amusement parks, Hanayashiki was purchased by Togo to serve as a showcase for amusement park rides (which, like in America, were hard to come by before/during/after WWII)

Things grow slowly and carefully at Hanayashiki. Like other 100+ year old parks, the challenge is always preserving the past while offering new experiences to keep guests coming back.

The park is tiny. I've already covered the entire park at this point.

How about a view from the air?

Two elevated monorails and an elevated Disk'o make for some very festive surroundings.

Often one or both monorails duel with Roller Coaster!

This park is beautiful, inside and out.

There's this lovely aura of urban liveliness with historic undertones.

And yes, Hanayashiki is still a garden. :}

Landscaping around the rides are as well-loved as Roller Coaster.

The park is exciting, aesthetically pleasing, space effective, and quintessentially Japanese. What more could you ask for??

Residential high rises overlook the little park. What lovely views they must have!

Because of Roller Coaster's proximity to walkways, they take their loose article policy very seriously. A woman was using her cell phone as the ride was going up the lift; the ride operater stopped the ride, dashed up the steps, and confiscated her phone! It was of course all done very graciously (since this is Japan, after all), and once the phone was stowed, the ride resumed.

A staple in Japanese parks are these coin-operated ride-on pandas. You'll find them all over Japanese parks waiting for the next child to drive them around.

There's a charming arcade and gift shop underneath Roller Coaster's first turnaround. Here, crane games are actual games of skill and not rigged pieces of crap.

Along with Roller Coaster, Hanayashiki's signature ride was a vintage parachute drop-style ride featuring flying houses. For whatever reason, the ride was retired a few years ago. Souvenirs and pictures serve as a shrine for the lost icon.

Honestly this park's merch is on point. This puts most larger parks to shame.

Even the ride-on pandas outside have their own merch. 🐼

As you exit the gift shop, Roller Coaster beckons.

As does the Looper ride! It looks similar to the "hamster wheels" at Knoebels, but these actually flip on their own.

🍑 PEACH FANTA! 🍑

(for reference, this blacktop we're standing on now was once home to the flying house ride)

Don't you wish you could see Japan's oldest roller coaster in action real quick?

Well, you're in luck!

For lunch I had something that I wouldn't normally be caught dead eating at an amusement park: Fried chicken and fries! 🐔🍟

Japanese-style fried chicken is extra flavorful and so crisp, tender, and juicy! Also the giant fries are the best I've ever had. I believe they're made by using potato meal that is extruded into long strands and then fried. Absolutely delicious!

Look! A creepy old ghost train!

After an...interesting...tunneled portion around some of the park's smaller walkways, the ghost train treats guests to a delightfully hokey haunted house experience.

Here's part of the ghost train tunnel. The ride's indoor part is beneath the area home to most of the park's flowers and kiddie rides.

See? Amazing use of space!

In the very center of the park is this authentic water garden.

Like I said. Quintessentially Japanese.

Underneath the 2nd turnaround of Roller Coaster is this amazing little history exhibit for the park.

Look at Roller Coaster when it was new!

The gift shop is actually accessible from outside the park. Here's the street entrance.

Anyone need anything from 7-11? 🏪

Once again, I find myself wanting to eat everything.

Look! They have 🍙 here!

Down the street is a 5-story pachinco parlor. These parlors are like casinos, and panchico is like a cross between a slot machine and pinball.
🎰
I thought about giving it a go, but based on my obsession with coin pushers I decided it was best not to usher in another addiction.

This tiny little hole-in-the-wall restaurant is where I met the rest of my fam for lunch!

It's this neat-o old restaurant where you make your own pancakes.

A bathroom stop at Dunkin' Donuts allowed us a chance to admire the Japanese obsession with donuts.

Also, here's a gas station where the pumps are in the ceiling. 🚗🚙🚕

Next stop: Tokyo Dome City! Home to LaQua and Thunder Dolphin!

And a log flume sponsored by Pocari Sweat 💦💦💦

As gross as it sounds, Pocari Sweat is a brand of bottled water.

Enter: Thunder Dolphin – Millennium Force's Japanese kinfolk and possibly the most over-engineered roller coaster in the world (for good reason). 🎢

Noticeable earthquakes are a weekly occurrence in Japan.

Thunder Dolphin and LaQua's signature hubless Ferris Wheel were engineered with a superstructure beefy enough to keep things solid even during the wildest shaker.

Thunder Dolphin's suspension pylon lift/drop is in stark contrast with those of later Intamin hypers (like the extremely minimalist lift/drops of Intimidator 305 and Skyrush).

But plentiful superstructure doesn't cost the ride anything in the style department.

Speaking of style and departments, LaQua is actually an enormous shopping mall full of style/department stores.

Thunder Dolphin's layout is roughly triangular, making two laps around the perimeter of LaQua. Riders make two separate passes over the towering shopping mall, during which trains seemingly float along the roof before nosediving over the log flume.

Here are some maps of Tokyo Dome City! On the right is a close-up of just the LaQua area.

Across the street from LaQua is Tokyo Dome City's Parachute Land.

The signature attraction in Parachute Land is none other than an Intamin Parachute Drop!

We'll check out Parachute Land a little later. Right now it's Dolphin time!

Thunder Dolphin's loading and dispatches are far from fast, but they're very thorough and the attendants are quite friendly (and, as you can see, every seat has it's own designated full-sized locker that coordinates with the color of your train).

First ride was in the front of the last car. Second ride was *almost* the same seat, but I begged the ride operator to let me wait for the front (which isn't normally allowed). Fortunately the group of people behind me in line didn't care either way, so I got my coveted front seat ride! So worth begging for!! 👏

Thunder Dolphin is not the tallest, fastest, longest, most forceful, or most airtime-laden hyper coaster out there, but it's truly one of a kind. 💎

The 360° panoramic view of downtown Tokyo from Thunder Dolphin is unforgettable. I beseech you to find me a better view from a hyper coaster!

Thunder Dolphin also has some very unique pacing. Despite having a first drop of nearly 220ft, Thunder Dolphin's average speed is relatively low.

This is due to the ride's aforementioned pair of highly-elevated rooftop jaunts, the second being particularly mild .

The fluid trick-tracky-ness of the rooftop segments don't offer a whole lot in terms of airtime, but they sure are fun. And they offer great visuals!

As you can see, the second drop off the rooftop lands you right in the final brakes.

Kind of a pity to waste all of that extra kinetic energy, but then, most great rides come into the brakes hot. 🔥

The only thing more exciting at LaQua than riding 25 stories above Tokyo on Thunder Dolphin is the mall's amazing sales. 👜👗👠🎀👡👛👢👕👖💳

Thanks to LaQua, I now only have interest in doing my shopping in malls that feature a 250+ roller coaster.

It's very fitting that the world's largest shopping mall coaster would have such a uniquely stylish support structure.

And, like all great fashion, it's a marriage of form and function!

If you want a great view of Thunder Dolphin, go to Starbucks!
🍵
It's right at the bottom of the first drop.

LaQua was built on the site of a more traditional style amusement park area. It was home to a nearly 5000ft vintage Togo coaster (their second after the Hanayashiki Roller Coaster), which ran for 45 years before being demolished for LaQua.

Up until its 2000 closure, the spot now occupied by LaQua was also home to a variety of Huss flat rides, a small Ferris Wheel, an amphitheater, and from 1980-84, an Arrow Shuttle Loop called "Boomerang" (yes, an Arrow Shuttle Loop. Not a Vekoma Boomerang).

What was once Tokyo Dome's newest coaster is now its only coaster; seven coasters total have operated in Tokyo Dome City, but as of 2012 only Thunder Dolphin remains.

Perhaps their most remarkable retired coaster is Intamin's prototype "Impulse" coaster, "Linear Gale". Opening just before Volcano: The Blast Coaster, the world's first inverted launch coaster once called Tokyo Dome City home. Like the "Twisted Impulse" coasters that would supersede the original Impulse coaster concept, Linear Gale featured a U-shaped track layout laden with LIMs and two vertical spikes (with straight track on both sides).

Tokyo Dome City is actually in recovery mode after its rides spent 2011, 2012, and half of 2013 closed for financial reasons. The park's indoor coaster, "Geopanic", departed in 2008, followed by Linear Gale in 2010 and their spinning mouse coaster in 2011. Actually, the Japanese regional park industry as a whole experienced a major slump around the turn of the decade, but most parks have stayed the course and are growing once more.

Quick! Guys! Pose for a picture!

Sorry, Erin! Too slow. 😜

Here! Have a Thunder Dolphin layout graphic!

...and of course it looks amazing in that afternoon light. 🌆

I couldn't decide if I liked this shot better...

...or this one. So I used both.

💜💛 ⛈🐬 💙💚

Woohoo! We made it to Parachute Land!

In addition to parachutes, Parachute land also has this tea cup-ish ride that looks like.....Easter Baskets.....?

It actually wouldn't surprise me. Japan LOVES Easter.

DIG THIS KAWAII-NESS: Tokyo Dome's Parachutes are still of the stand-up variety.

Back in the day, the parachute rides at Knott's Berry Farm and the three original Six Flags parks (and later Six Flags Great Adventure) featured only standing baskets. Somewhere along the way, the Six Flags installations were converted to a sit-down only arrangement, while Knott's was retired altogether (the Georgia and Texas towers would later follow, leaving the Six Flags Over Mid-America / Great Adventure installation as the last in America).

I wasn't actually sure if this Parachute Drop still existed, and I certainly didn't know it still had the stand-up cages! What a delight! :}

🌼🌹🌺 SKY FLOWER! 🌻🌸🌷

Best possible name imaginable for this ride.

Ten out of twelve chutes are open today! That's pretty good considering it's the offseason!

Three unsupervised children in a cage 100+ft above ground? Definitely not in America.

All Intamin Parachutes were built to run 12 chutes, but Tokyo's is the only one to still do so in at least 20 years.

LOOK HOW MANY THEY HAVE GOING AT ONCE!

Here are some cell phone selfies from my ride on the Parachutes with Erin! I don't normally post cell phone selfies on here, but now that I have a phone with a decent camera I may do it more often.