Amusements

I haven't had a chance to blog about all the fun things we did over the holidays. One really fun - and funny - stop was "Hanayashiki," an odd, old, pint-sized amusement park in the old-world Asakusa neighborhood.

We went with my friend Susan Mulcahy and her 3 yr old son Max in the Mulcahy's amusing "banana car."


Here's what we saw when we walked thru the gate.


This park is easily the biggest rip-off I've found in Tokyo. You pay 900 yen ($9) per adult and 400 yen ($4) for kids over 4. Plus, each ride requires 2-3 "coupon tickets" worth 100 yen apiece ($1). End result: you are shelling out $6-$10 per 4-minute ride for a mom and two kids.

The place was an ingenious scheme to separate us from our yen - and the kids loved it. We tried the swan boats and the merry-go-round...




... and the pirate ships, the tamest ride in amusement history (the "Ride it! Feel the POWER!" sign was for something marginally more exciting)...


... and the taxi ride past various plastic creatures.


Hanayashiki's crowning glory was the ride-a-panda. For 100 yen, we steered these big, furry, moth-eaten pandas around a patch of asphalt. Each panda had a steering wheel and a forward-reverse shift. Arno was nervous but Lucinda loved it, and I couldn't stop laughing at the absurdity of the thing.




This place must be swimming in cash because they clearly aren't spending it on new equipment.