One of the biggest advantages of traveling abroad to me felt like the ability to explore and break away from the agenda. The class as a whole agrees to travel as a group to another country to take part in the culture and learn on a very educational level. There are planned moments of ‘fun’ but these are also loosely based in the realm of educational experiences too. Sometimes I believe that you want to get an experience that would be hard to achieve later in life or ever again. I saw this experience and it was within arms length.

As students back in the States before the trip was ready to set sail, we discussed the ability to take our ‘free time’ to the ultimate level. You see, the trip had pockets of free time that were completely unsupervised and only asked that we did not break any laws. Easy enough. I took in a vote as this trip was only possible if enough people wanted to go, splitting cost and such. It became a very popular option and many were on board.

I planned this trip out with intense detail as it was the home run hit while we were going to be in Japan. I studied the prices of hostels, train fair, tickets, times, distance, weather, and so on. It was possible, going to happen with certainty. I took the money, called/email the plans and we had an adventure ready.

In another post, I’ll mention the hostel that we stayed and the adventure up to that point, but once we left, it was time to visit the parks. I did not record a lot of the prep for this trip, only the action, and I wish I had more about the process of getting there. Remembering this about 4 years later, as significant as it might have felt, I don’t have a vivid memory of the before and after. I do know that there was a hint of… pressure. Before getting to the parks, we needed to get there… like GET THERE ASAP. We did NOT have the most time in the world on that day. That was and is still VERY clear in my head thinking back. We rushed but made it work out too. Also the ending of the trip, I remember waiting on the crew to meet at a location and this was…. nerve racking. We NEEDED to hit a JR train back that was going to be missed at one point, because others were late on meeting. We were tired after this park, after this day. We were slow to get our butts in gear and move. This JR train might have been missed and we would have been in a bad scenario. I remember getting to the train area, fighting through swarms of people leaving the park at once, then trying to (on the FLY) read where we need to go, what badge to scan, quickly. I remember that it was a miracle that we were all together and on the right train to get out and back to Tokyo.

That was a lot to process but needs to be stated as this trip was not hitch free. There were hiccups and almost had someone left behind. Insane.

So, we arrive at the park at about 8-10AM if I’m not mistaken. You might know this information more precisely with open gate info on that day, as we waited for that opening. There were thousands of people easily. We had some issues with getting the tickets together and seemed to just throw money at the window when Japanese was the first language of the cashier. I tried… passed with okay colors on that transaction. About as difficult as ordering a burger from MickeyD’s over there, which I did mess up on and they will not have a CLUE what would are saying when you stumble your Japanese.

Through the gate and out the door, we’re in the park! It was magnificent. Just like how the parks felt back in the States, it was full of atmosphere. I had adrenaline coursing through me. My foot hurt from the all this walking in Japan and about to be a full week of hurting at this point I’m guessing. This hurt was not like take a pain killer and go, it was red and swollen. Horrible. Made this trip extra painful to fight through but this was my adventure, my Japan trip experience.

We busted through the areas and as far as that goes, I’ll touch on what there was and what happened.

Anime/Games Meet Themed Rides:

There was a section of the park that was filled with anime and video games adaptations of rides. This isn’t uncommon but does NOT happen all year or anything like that. We were there at the RIGHT time to experience this event. Incredible.

–Attack on Titan: There was a AOT themed area that extended to about season 2 (maybe, 2016?) or maybe just season 1. It had a titan in the wall that was HUGE. JESUS. There was also a titan that ate Erin’s mom that you could be held by for a photo OP. A quick museum of the AOT people and gear, similar to the half show infographs you get during the anime. Finally, a 4D theater that rocked!!! It was a wait to get into but it was awesome. Playing as a random scout, playing out the final bit of season 1, flying around, wind, water (blood from titan), and more. You ended the area with a awesome gift shop and I got a scout cloak!

–Monster Hunter: We attended this part of the themed area towards the ending as we felt this area might suck up too much time. It was a Monster Hunter…Generations area? I say this with uncertainty because I was not a big fan of the franchise, others in the group were though. It consisted of a animatronic monster zone that was very cool and a meet area for hunters to play on the 3DS! A mini game here n’ there and possibly a gift shop that I don’t remember.
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…and at this second in time, I don’t remember the other franchises. I believe there were 2 more but I like to write this blog off memory more than research. So, I might post it later or let it be.

Rest of the Park:

Moving on, there were typical 2016 park layouts of themes here. Meaning that these parks move around and drop rides all the time. Jurassic Park, Jaws, Toons, Back to the Future, Spider-Man, Dr Seuss? And Harry Potter.

The video can help describe the appeal of these areas with visuals but it was a wonderful experience to be there and walk (ouch) around. We rode just a handful of rides as time was an enemy. I think I had the most fun walking through Jurassic Park, drinking Butter Beer at Hogwarts and riding the Back to the Future ride as the State’s parks already removed it a long time ago.

There really isn’t much to say on the walkthrough, I wish there was a Go Pro recoding of the whole day. That’s a lot of battery and memory cards. We traveled lite too. We reached the point that the festival parade was going through the park, almost a closing ceremony event. Very fun to watch and listen too.

We all got a fix, enjoyed, emptied our wallets, laughed, cried and finally realized it was time to leave. Time to get outta there safely and on the correct train.

We left the park with a few goodies, mostly everyone (I remember that being complicated but no details come to mind), and we head to the train station for Tokyo. A long ride back, tired souls and some with hungry bellies.

This was a magical trip and left us feeling powerful to take on whatever came next.