Oct 10 2016
Next up on my list was a park called Tobu Zoo, which stood out because of some great online reviews. The catch phrase for the park was ‘hybrid leisure land,’ and I would never get tired of the random English phrases around the country. Tobu Zoo was a bit of a pain in the backside to get to, and I just hoped that I didn’t get lost along the multi-train/much walking journey. My sister wanted another day of sightseeing in Tokyo, so skipped Tobu which was fair enough – it’s not all about roller coasters for everyone.
There were three coasters on my list for Tobu Zoo. I went straight to Regina, a massive wooden beauty to rival some of the great tracks in the US. As I am terrible with the Japanese language, I had no idea what the confusing safety signs said. I assume it was stuff like don’t jump out, don’t be an idiot, and if you are going to throw up please do it over the side.
After a wonderfully bone rattling start, it was off to an Intamin coaster called Kawasemi, which is apparently a fast bird. This was one of the smaller Intamins I have experienced, but was pretty zippy for a little model. 2/3 of the coasters at the park were Intamin, and that ain’t bad! Alas the third did not live up to any kind of standard.
It was a weird little coaster called a Sky Cycle. I knew of these ‘bicycle on a track’ style coasters thanks to YouTube videos showing one that went over a cliff top at Washuzan Highland (I went there towards the end of the trip.) The one at Tobu was very small, low to the ground, and uneventful.
I skipped the kiddies area of the park, but did have a nice lunch in a beautifully landscaped area called ‘Heartful Garden.’ In Australia we have Floriade, in Japan they have cool statues of animals covered in flowers. I bought some yummy little cakes to take back for my sister, which looked like Tiny Teddies but with way more fluffy goodness. This was only the start of cute and unusual things that I would eat on this trip.
Yes I am a hypocrite, and despite my dislike of zoos I did have a quick look at the animal section. The monkeys getting a free ride on the capybaras was pretty cute, plus I couldn’t help myself and had to go and pat the kittens and puppies. I finished with the firefly show and was pretty content with a solid half day’s effort!
Roller Coaster Ramble 