The park was Heiwa-no-Mori Koen ("koen" means park).
A Nishimachi/Willowbrook friend, Laurie Lebrun, drove me, our friend Rachel Wang and our three children to eastern Tokyo, and we made our way to the obstacle course's unassuming entrance.
The cost is only 360 yen/adult (about $3) and 80 yen (or 50 cents!) per child. There are 45 obstacles made mainly of logs and rope - like a Marines' training course - for children age 5 and up.
This is one of the first obstacles. Easy, right?
But the designs grew much more challenging, with vertical and horizontal logs to climb or swing around, and wobbly steps attached to ropes. A selection:
Some were 10+ feet off the ground, with no safety net. Lucinda was frightened by one early climb, but that taught her to assess what to try and what to skip.
She has very strong arms and climbed anything with a rope to hold.
But she avoided (to my relief) water obstacles that involved pure balance - like these wobbly rafts that claimed several victims (as in this photo, at left) and two boating tests.
I don't know if this is an "only in Japan" experience, but it was the most creative playground I've ever seen. Isn't this loop-the-loop tunnel amazing?
2 comments:
I came across your site just browsing the internet as I'm looking for ideas on obstacles courses. My son requested an 'obstacle course' party for his 5th bday next month. If only we had a park like this in San Diego, CA! It's amazing. What an adventure. Adults would enjoy it as much as the children.
I lived in Japan when I was a child, and we went to an obstacle course that I thought was unbelievable. My husband and I are considering a family trip to Tokyo and I was hoping to find some of my favorite childhood places. Thanks to your blog, I think I found one of them!
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