Korea + Japan 09/18 – Tokyo
Day 8 – Better than creds
This day was originally going to be our first attempt at Fuji-Q, and so we stayed at a hotel that claimed to have a view of Mount Fuji. Something came up though, and yes, it was more important than creds.
Didn’t quite manage to see the mountain for the clouds, I think it’s there somewhere.
Didn’t have time to stick around for it either, as some lovely ladies were waiting for us in Tokyo.
So one of our favourite K-Pop groups were doing promotions in Japan, and this included a ‘mini-live’ session in a mall along with some meet and greet action.
Oh look another ferris wheel.
The mall in question was in the Odaiba area, a ‘high-tech entertainment hub on an artificial island in Tokyo Bay.’
And is all rather posh inside. Themed to Venice apparently.
The industry knows exactly how to extract money from the defenseless fans, with which member of the group you get to meet being based on a random photocards inside the album and the manner in which you get to greet being based on how many copies of the album you buy. Ended up with 8 copies between two of us, which gave priority access to 2 rounds of live performances, as well as both getting a hearty handshake and a brief chat with our 2 respective favourite members, aided by a little crafty card trading (how very Japanese).
With all that lifechanging stuff going on, we ended up there most of the day and it was even more intense than Arashi.
Back to reality?
Tokyo Joypolis
There just so happens to be a cred nearby, the Gerstlauer Spinner with an inversion.
But there’s more to it than that.
It’s currently themed to this anime. The restraints have buttons built into them and the first half of the ride is an interactive music game, like that old Tap Tap Revenge one. The car moves up to different screens with anime scenes going on and you compete with everyone else in the car to score points based on your timing.
When that’s said and done, it launches into the rest of the layout, of which there isnt much going on. The inversion is taken surprisingly well, then there’s a few spinny bits around a couple more screens and a smattering of lighting and music.
Kinda liked it, if just for the novelty. I like the concept – I like music, I like rides, I like games, it just all feels a bit clunky as a package and I’m sure it could be done a lot better in the future.
Joypolis itself was a bit crap though. I had it in my mind that it was going to be the biggest of the lot and I’d be blown away by the sheer spectacle of a huge Japanese arcade, but it’s tiny and there’s nothing much else to do, partcularly if you’ve already done another.
Suppose at least they had their cred working… https://rcdb.com/13804.htm
Up next – more rain.
Day 9