Growing up in the Dallas/Fort Worth area, I was spoiled. There were sports stadiums, beautiful parks, well respected museums for history and art, good food, and lots of entertainment. There was never a lack of things to do. But my favorite was always the amusement parks. Summer vacation was spent at Six Flags and Wet N’ Wild (now Hurricane Harbor). We got season passes each year for Christmas and we definitely got our money’s worth.
Because of this, I became a sort of theme park elitist. While my college friends were crazy for Disney World, I just scoffed. Give me Bugs Bunny and Daffy Duck any day. I came to love roller coasters, the bigger the better. Shows were just what you did when it was raining or if you really, really wanted to see it. The soul of theme parks were the rides, baby!
When I moved away from the Metroplex, I began to realize how amazing my hometown really was. I had so many opportunities and amusements that the rest of my peers just didn’t share. But I digress; let me get back to what this post is really about – my trip to Universal Studios Japan in Osaka.
Last October (yes, I am really far behind), I went to USJ with a friend for her birthday. I was pretty excited to go. I hadn’t been to an amusement park since visiting Sea World with my sister quite a few years before. The fact that USJ has The Wizarding World of Harry Potter was also part of the excitement. I really, really, wanted to see Hogwarts.
We got to USJ no problem. Kantan desu yo. Living near Tennoji, I had easy access to the Osaka Loop Line which has a train that will take you directly to USJ. So we were quickly and efficiently ushered to USJ. Us and several thousand other people.
And this was the main problem with USJ. There were lines for everything. And we aren’t talking like a thirty minute wait. We are talking three plus hours. We spent the entire day at the park. In that time we only managed to ride four rides. In hindsight, spending the extra money on the pass that lets you skip to the front of the line would have been money well spent.
Not that the waiting was all bad. Because it was close to Halloween, there were lots of people in costume in the park. Standing in line, my friend and I were able to people watch and psychoanalyze the unsuspecting Japanese people around us.
The first thing that struck us, as we stood in line for tickets to Bio Hazard the Real, was how much effort went into the costumes. These were not just something you pickup at Walmart or Spirit (that seasonal Halloween store that shows up in the mall every year). There was attention to detail that would give any Hollywood costume designer or makeup artist a run for their money. We saw the typical vampires, zombies, and bogiemen, but there were also a lot of original costumes or at least characters we were unfamiliar with.
But this observation led to another. You didn’t see just one zombie or vampire – you always saw a group of them. The group costume is becoming more popular in America, I know this. My last few Halloweens, I have gone as part of group (it was even a zombie theme one year). The difference here was that the costumes were not based on a theme, in many cases they were based on a single character. So instead of an Alice in Wonderland theme where you would have an Alice, a Queen of Hearts, a Mad Hatter, and so on, you had a group of five Alices. All dressed the same. This even extended to couples. We saw one group with three identical witches and three identical demons in very tight body suits. This struck us as a little odd. We couldn’t imagine planning to show up in the same costume. I mean, that is like the biggest fear when you show up to a Halloween party in a store bought costume. It made us reflect on the independent nature of America versus the more homogonous attitude of Japan. This train of thought kept us busy as we slowly moved through the line.
Now this is the second thing you need to know about going to USJ, you have to stand in line to get a ticket to enter places. When we finally got to the front of the line we realized it was not to actually go to Bio Hazard the Real. It was to get a ticket for a later time when we could go into the attraction. It was the same with The Wizarding World. We had to wait in line for a ticket to go into the area. This caught us by surprise. In actuality, it is quite efficient. It means that the areas aren’t too crowded since only so many can go in at a time (but there is no rule about coming out once you are in), but it meant we had to watch the clock and judge if we had time to stand in line for this ride or that ride. So, tip number two would be to get these tickets out of the way early so you can plan around them.
We did finally get into The Wizarding World. We got to drink butter beer (oishii!) and eat real ribs and corn on the cob. It was almost like home, something both of us were needing right around our birthdays. And for once, the three hour line was actually worth it. Well, not really. The line was still epicly long, but the actual ride was one of the best I have ever been on. I highly recommend the Forbidden Journey ride. It is really like magic; like you are flying with Harry and being attacked by big spiders. I would have ridden it a million times if it didn’t mean standing in line for three million hours.
Just be sure to get in the right line. We got in the wrong line the first time and ended up taking a tour of the castle. Not that this was a bad thing. It was really cool, but with Japan’s obsession with photography, this ended up taking a lot longer than it should have. However, it did us lead us to another realization about Japanese people. We were behind this group of young people – maybe high school or college. As the line inched closer and closer to the castle, they spent the time taking selfies. I am not sure how their phones did not run out of memory. They must have taken a picture with each half inch. Eventually, my friend and I started making faces behind them to amuse ourselves. Now this wasn’t so much an observation on Japanese culture, but on youth in general. Young people in America are just as attached to their phones as those here in Japan.
I guess that is enough for this post. It kind of spun round in circles. Universal Studios Japan was a lot of fun, despite the lines. It was a great chance to people watch and philosophize about humanity. While there were less rides, especially roller coasters, than I was hoping for, there was a lot of work put into the atmosphere. You really felt like you were at Hogwarts in the Wizarding World, you could actually believe you were being chased by a raptor in Jurassic Park. With it being close to Halloween we were pretty lucky because Halloween isn’t something that people in Japan really celebrate. It was a little slice of home. It brought up a lot of soul searching and deep thinking, not something usually associated with a theme park, but it only enriched the experience (and gave us something to talk about in line). So I guess I would recommend going to USJ if you are in Osaka and have a good chunk of spare change. Splurge and buy the fast pass and get in the lines early. Then just enjoy your time watching the people.
No comments:
Post a Comment