Toshimaen

The second park of the day Toshimaen was again on the previous trip but totally rained out and we didn't get to ride anything other than the carousel (actually I didn't, I ended up having a fight in one of those photo booth things)

This time however the weather was a lot better, everything was open and there was a sizeable crowd in the park.

Play area for the little ones.

The park has a kidy (sic) coaster, which I think had only appeared a few months prior to our arrival, and it happened to be the one we rode first. It was OK.

Second up was the corkscrew coaster. Again not bad although a few people were upset at the excessive pushing in that was taking place on this ride. A shame given the nation's reputation for being civil. Perhaps the holidays had attracted a slightly more roguish element to the park.

Third coaster was the big blue log train ride that runs around the perimeter of the park. It looks better than the ride it offers.

Now there're a small number of rides out there that trigger a "is it a coaster or not" debate. We'd already had one in the trip at the Kitty Park and there was another one here that most people overlooked. It's coin operated and powered but does have a hill and a drop. Tenuous at best but the few of us that spotted did ride it just in case.

Final coaster was the German sounding Blauer Enzian (Blue engine?). A powered coaster situated on the roof of a food court. Quite an enjoyable ride.

The breakdance ride was also situated on a roof (they are making good use of the space at this park). The sedateness of the program they were running disappointed Tim who's use to German Fair programs where they turn the intensity dial to 11. I thought it was alright.

Having ridden all the rides at Toshimaen, Fuji Q and Nagashima we'd now ridden everything that we couldn't on the last trip, so that was pretty cool. Toshimaen itself is an OK park that is easy to get to on the Public Transport (just head for Toshimaen station). Two things disappointed me though. Firstly it has the same no tattoo rule as Nagashima, which meant I had to ensure my t-shirt sleeves didn't roll up (not easy to do on a coaster). Secondly as we were making our way our we spotted dressed up monkeys performing on stilts. That was a little disappointing.