For six years, I worked as a tour co-coordinator at the Melbourne Branch of one of Japan’s major travel companies. It was during the boom years when Australia was one of the major destinations for honeymoon couples and indeed most time deficient Japanese travelers opting for the ‘package tour’, which catered for their every need.
At the time Melbourne struggled to maintain its position on the standard package tour itinerary with only two flailing attractions: the penguin parade and her older European style buildings. Our frustrated branch manager’s frequent remonstrations on the necessity for Melbourne to simply create a new attraction fell on deaf ears.
Having just spent the spring holidays taking my children to various Japanese made attractions, which effortlessly seemed to accommodate thousands of patrons, I finally understood what my Branch Manager was talking about.
Three such attractions, Thomas land, Sanrio’s Puroland and Hakone Kowaki-en’s Yunessun are magical places which I enjoyed every bit as much as my children.
At Puroland five different theatres run five different shows almost every two hours. More shows, spectacular parades and acrobatics feature in the main atrium and a delightful boat ride took us on a tour of all of the characters that Sanrio has created. If you do not mind riding at the back of the boat and there are only two of you, when the attendant announces “futari dake no okyakusan” answer “hai” loudly and you will be taken right to the front of the queue.
‘Kitty Chan’, Sanrio’s most successful creation, is 25 years old this November and although retailers continue to flog Sanrio’s latest creations which are currently the ’sugar bunnies’, she reigns supreme at Puroland. My five-year-old daughter cherishes and often talks about how kind ‘Kitty chan’ was to talk to her and hold her hand.
For anyone with boys aged between one and four, Thomas Land, located within the Fujikyuu Highlands Amusement park in Gotenba, is a must. Thomas with all of his friends and foe come to life and my sons who delight in the sight of any train were thrilled at being able to ride on their favorite characters: Percy, Toby and Harold.
Yunessun is a celebration of sensual fantasy and takes the Japanese penchant for bathing to absurdly extravagant extremes. Here we can indulge in coffee, wine, green tea, honey and maple syrup, strawberry or sake spar baths. During our visit we lined up to place our feet in a shallow pool for four minutes while ‘Garra Rufus’ fish devoured our dead skin. They sure beat the pumice stone. My girl wouldn’t have a bar of it but the boys loved it.
My children loved the slides, the pools and the spas so much that we stayed until 7:30pm when they finally kicked us out. The last two hours, with the dispersal of the masses, were the best. The kids did not have to queue for the slides and we could swim in the pools. A delectably hot bath is positioned perfectly for maximum viewing of the slides. I love the pebble floors which put an immediate stop to kids running and slipping.
The highlight of my day was the Dead Sea bath, which contains ten times more salt than the sea. Following the instructions on the wall, I rested my hands behind my head, closed my eyes and released all of the strength from my muscles. Floating buoyantly above the water and with the entire bath to myself, I drifted dreamily into oblivion. As much as I love the tranquility and sereneness of the whole Japanese onsen (hot spring) experience, I have never felt at ease enough to achieve the degree of relaxation that I achieved in the dead sea bath. And that night my skin felt as soft as silk.
Yunessun does have a traditional section for serious hot spring patrons where bathing suits are not worn and the sexes are segregated but we never made it to that area. For as crass as some of the spars may appear to some, in particularly the coffee spa, the entire location seemed in sync with the crass behavior of my children.
