Harmony Land
I dragged Lori to Harmony Land. That:s a Hello Kitty theme park that is a day trip out of Beppu (about 30 min away).
We were the only:
1. Non-Asian
2. Not parents
in the whole park!
But it was very cool. There was a rollercoaster, a big ferris wheel, and a 4D animation virtual reality show (I don:t know what 4D is, but that:s what they called it). We also saw some stage show with talking trees. Lori and I took turns narrating to each other before we got bored and left.
The 4D show was pretty funny – in the pre-show breifings they explained everything in English as well as Japanese. We were so impressed, and excited that our magic glasses would make us invisible to pirates. But then the movie started, and alas no English at all! So we couldn:t follow the plot, but I guess we didn:t expect to.
The parade was hilarious – Noah:s Ark. And there was a song with some english – ‘Ride on a Bicycle, Ride on!’ The costumes and dancers were wonderful.
Oh, and outside the park they were having a huge 50% off sale – Cuteness overload. that:s the one thing i can say in Japanese – cute- kawaii.
One dissapointment is that Keroppi is almost as rare here as in Toronto – though Bandai has this cute line of stuff called Frog Style.
So anyway, I would definately recoomend Kitty Land to EVERYONE! Though you might want to check with Lori for her opinion.