Japan 08/25 – Kitami Family Land + Family Ailand You
The following morning began with an offensively cheap McDonalds breakfast. I’ve lovingly criticised Japan in the past for being expensive to visit, but since that time the value of their currency has essentially halved relative to our own. So now the things that were a bit much (trains, parks, goods) are now decently priced, and things that were already decent (hotels, fuel, foods) now feel unfair, to the point that a Mackmuffin, apple pie and upcharge premium coffee now total under £2. It’s also fast, and food, unlike in the UK.
Anyway, enough food nonsense, the reason we were here in Kitami was
Day 3 – Kitami Family Land
Where?
Well the place just happens to be home to this delicious looking contraption from Togo. You know, like the one at Knotts that was a bit of a saga.
As such, I fully expected death, but the golden rule of Togo in Japan is that they’re actually good. And I liked #1 Crazy Mouse, a lot.
In a world full of boring wild mice coasters, this just has everything going for it. The loop itself is pretty intense and the rest of the unconventional layout has a decent mix of forces, decent length and rode surprisingly well. It’s also right next to a little petting zoo so got a surprise goat jump scare about half way round, which was a bonus.
There’s even a little airtime finale which actually lands. Loved it. It was pay per ride, but I paid again. Gotta support your local parks this year.
One other cred in the park, the cold steel of a powered #2 Dragon Coaster.
This happy fellow to be specific, glorious.
Nice little place overall, out in the middle of nowhere with not much to do. Was surprisingly busy though, despite those factors, which was great to see. So glad to have bagged the Crazy Mouse, a coaster to be cherished.
That was the only planned park of the day, though there is another up in the north of the island. Having researched their website, I found no trace or mention of the coaster that they have/had so I had kinda written it off.
However the place we were planning to drive to next took us right past it anyway, so popped in just to confirm.
Family Ailand You
Always a ferris wheel.
The powered #3 Dragon most certainly is still here, thus retaining the title of Japan’s most northerly coaster, so this was a bit of a bonus cred. Glorious.
Nice place, but the sea smells weird here.
Up the road was a seal sanctuary, by far one of my favourite animals, so couldn’t resist a visit.
The area is also famous for sea ice in the winter, when you can take boat trips out to carve it all up.
No ice in August though, just chillin’.
Feeding time was fun.
Something else you can do in Japan, if you don’t like collecting coasters, is drive around the country collecting Pokémon lids. There’s a map and database for them and everything. Here’s an appropriate one for the location.
Still had a long way to go from here, so found another interesting looking stopping point on route.
A closed for the day ferris wheel.
This area is meant to be famous for its lavender fields but again, August.
Though we did manage to have some lavender ice cream. Ending it on food again.