For the one who loves “ Doraemon ” 

                                  By  Thaa         

If you are the one of Doraemon fans I assumed you must know “ Fujiko  Fujio ” the cartoon artist who created Doraemon and many cartoon characters.

When I was young, the most pleasure  time of mine was waiting to watch my favorite TV program and that was “ Doraemon” . I won’t move even a little bit to go far away from a TV. While I was watching “Doraemon” , I kept thinking I wish I have “ Doraemon” beside me like “ Nobita ”. I also thought that who is the one who create this amazing cartoon story like this.

And … I had come. That day, my first step in the town of the Manga artist. I saw the statute of a masterpiece of Fuijko. Fujio (Pa-Man) on the walk side of a little street to lead me to the museum.

 After kept walking along the street, then I stood in the front of the building and my heart beat was getting faster, 

I felt like I was going to see my close friend again after I won’t see them for a long time. I stood in a line, waiting until the reception staff led me inside. I must say this museum was built to fulfill a dream of the Fujiko.F.Fujio manga fans. Not only a history of artist, but they also prepare many interesting area for fans club. Not just kids, even the parents looks happy and excite to visit this place.

A building with three floors was separated for many unique purpose of area such as an exhibition room, rest corner, book corner, museum café, also the original movie theater which play a short movie are playing that cannot be seen anywhere,  etc.

The way from the first room until the roof top was set like a rhythm of the song to tell and show you a story from the beginning of the start point of the original color artworks. You will also find many mock-ups while walking to take a memorial picture for fans club.

A child in your side will be awake, even me. I rather wouldn’t believe that when I  had regain my consciousness, I was sat in front of the machine which sell many little cute of the cartoons character model. I took a long time for that and finally I got all of five models after fight with 3 years old kid. How a pity of me!!!.

After lost   a lot of power for model fighting, I went to the roof top and not forgot to taste a “Dorayaki” , one of the Japanese pancakes with bean, the most favorite sweet of Doraemon.

 Actually, I would like to taste the other menu too, but there were so much people on that day, so I had skipped it up and went  back to the 1 ^st floor to buy many adorable souvenirs

 before leaving. These are the entire

 souvenir, I had bought.

Wow, I was still not to leave from this place, but it was time. So, I said good bye and I will come back again for remind my special moment  again.

Oh, I forget to tell you that don’t be worry about the Japanese language because all of the staff can guide you in English and they had prepared the audio guidance (In English, Chinese, and Korean) for listen to information about the explanation of the artworks.   

 

Hoping you can go there one day !! See you later !!

 The detail of museum -à

Name     :      Kawasaki City Fujiko.F.Fujio Museum

Address :      2-8-1 Nagao, Tama-ku, Kawasaki City 214-0023

      :      0570-055-245 (09:30~18:00)

Website  :      http://fujiko-museum.com

Admission      :      Adults & college students : 1,000 Yen

High School & Junior high school student : 700 Yen

Children (Over 4- years old) : 500 Yen

3 years old and under : Free

Admission time     :      1) 10:00   2) 12:00   3) 14:00   4) 16:00

Opening Hours      :      10:00~18:00

Closed          :      Every Tuesdays and New Year (Dec 30 ~ Jan 3)

Advanced Reservation Required :

To enable all visitors to browse freely, a reservation specifying the time and day of your visit is required. Admission to the museum is limited to four times daily

The access-à

Planning to run the shuttle bus service from Noborito Station (Odakyu line or JR Nanbu line)

Or Approximately 16 minutes by foot from Mukougaoka Yuen station of Odakyu-line

Approximately 15 minutes by foot from Shuku-Gawara station of JR Nanbu line

Yomiuri Land by Kwan

Japanese amusement parks has been known for the fun and creativity they can offer, and finally, the time has come for me to introduce the biggest and probably the most famous amusement park of Kangawa prefecture, the Yomiuri Land.

Initially, I must admit that it was hard for me to set high expectation for this amusement park. This is due to the fact that I have been to Fuji-Q, one of the craziest and most frightening amusement park in Japan (and in the world, I dare say), a few months before.  As such, I was a little bit concern that I might end up comparing the two and not enjoying Yomiuriland as much as I should.

However, all my concerns were gone once the tour was finished on that day. Yomiuri Land may not be a mega-sized theme park like Disneyland or Fuji-Q, but it still offers a great variety of unique attractions, creativity, and some extremely beautiful sights that no other amusement parks can offer.



We began the tour by arriving at Keio Yomiuri Land train station. From here, we can take a Gondola Sky Shuttle (200 yen for a one-way trip) which will take the visitors directly into the amusement park (which is located in the middle of the mountains near the city area).



The leaves in the mountain are still changing colors when we visited, which means that we can get a magnificent view of the surrounding mountains while riding on a sky shuttle. And as the sky was clear on that day, we could even see the top of Mt.Fuji as well. Can any other theme park offer a scenery like this? I don't think so. ;)



The top of Mt.Fuji and autumn leaves, as seen from the sky shuttle.

 

Our first attraction of the day was "Bandit",the biggest, most popular, and most thrilling ride of this place. You may notice here how there is such a few people waiting in the queue. This is indeed one of the best thing about Yomiuri Land; the place is not insanely crowded like other bigger theme parks, which means it takes less than 10 minutes to wait for each ride. What's more, if you buy a free pass ticket, then you get to ride it again and again until you manage to memorize every single turns and ups and downs of this roller coaster. Yes, no need to wait 2 hours for just one ride here.



The main attractions here are not limited to rides. Here is the ancient Egypt-styled adventure where you can go in and face numerous challenges and trials inside such as running through a room filled with laser beams. The queue here was also not too long so it was possible to play again and again and again until you are totally satisfied.



Other attractions in the park include:

A Go-Kart ride: The course is a lot longer than I expected.



House of Terror, where ghosts (mainly Japanese, despite  the place being a western-styled mansion) awaits you. There is also a game here where numerous clues will be given to you along your journey throughout the house, and you have to point out the real culprit at the exit. It's probably a kid's game so the clues are not too hard....except for the fact that everything is in Japanese.



Wanpaku Train Oliver: a cute little train ride through a small garden with mascots and character models everywhere. The history and details of the park is also explained during the train ride. Quite a pleasurable experience, but  I must admit that having three grown-up men (me and my friends) riding it quite a bit awkward.



This ride is called Merry-Go-Landdog. Instead of horses, here we have LANDDOGs, the mascot of Yomiuri Land. I must say I love this dog's design (especially those creepy staring eyes).





White Canyon: another thrilling ride here. The selling point is how classic (aka ancient) it looks. You can actually hear the woods creaking as you ride the coaster, which really adds to the excitement.



Momonga (Japanese word for flying squirrel) is also recommended. It may be an extremely short ride with just one loop, but the special thing here is that you have to STAND while you ride it. Yes, it is the first time in my life going through a roller coaster loop while I was standing.



Crazy Hyuuuu and Crazy Stooon: One of them will shoot you straight up, then you go directly to the next tower, which will let you fall straight down.



The Sea Lion show, where you can observe the extreme cuteness of these creatures.

The Ferris Wheel can be a boring attraction in many theme parks but not here. Yomiuri Land is surrounded by beautiful forest and mountains so watching the scenery from such height is definitely worth a try. Unfortunately, the queue after sunset was  getting ridiculously long so I didn't get to ride it at night (which should be even more beautiful due to park illuminations). Nonetheless, the view of the park from above during the day is still beautiful.

The mountains surrounding the place is very vibrant thanks to the autumn leaves and if the weather is good you can also get a clear view of Mt.Fuji. I also love the fact that there is so much nature surrounding the place instead of only man-made attractions.

As we needed a little break during the evening after spending 3-4 hours being thrown around on the roller coasters, we all went to the park named "Seichi Park" which is located right next to the main part of Yomiuri Land.

The park has a beautiful and relaxing atmosphere, especially near sunset. Visiting here during fall also provides a great opportunity to watch leaves changing colors (and the sakura blooming during spring should be rather nice as well).



The temple and the pagoda at Seichi Park

And now comes the park's real highlight (I feel I've used this word somewhere above already, but this park does have many highlights indeed), the event called JEWELLUMINATION where the entire park is lit with multi-color lights from 5 pm onward.



Illuminations is one of the things you seriously NEED to see during the cold season in Japan, and I must say that Yomiuriland has one of the most beautiful illumination I've seen by far. As much as I would love to describe everything in details here, I'm afraid that I may run out of adjectives to describe how nice it looks. Thus, I'll leave it to these photos to describe the rest of my experience.

This Jewellumination event is run until March 11, 2012.

Also, please be reminded that the park will get very crowded  after sunset due to those who come to see the lights. The queue will get quite long here, so it's best to arrive at the place during the day and enjoy all the rides (with near zero waiting time) then close of the perfect day with this illuminations.

All in all, Yomiuri Land is a perfect place to spend your day and night. I think that sums it all up. :)






Yomiuri Land can be easily reached by train from the major stations or by bus. However, my personal recommendation is to use Keio line and take the train to Hashimoto Station. Get off at Keio Yomiuriland Station. From there, you will have an opportunity to ride the sky shuttle directly into the park, which costs only 200 yen and provides a magnificent scenery view.

For detailed information about the ticket prizes, opening and closing time, and other ways of accessing the park, I suggest taking a look at the park's official website.

• http://www.yomiuriland.co.jp/english/
• http://www.yomiuriland.co.jp/jewellumination/   - - the website regarding the Jewellumination event, with a nice promotional clip as well