If I had to think of two words that always cheer me up, it would have to be joy and metropolis. So imagine my delight when I found out there was a place in Tokyo that took my two favourite words and created the video gaming theme park JOYPOLIS. I was ecstatic. That's the back story I just made up.
When we were in Osaka, we decided not to go to Universal Studio, in Tokyo we chose not to go to Disney Land because we wanted a truly unique Tokyo Theme Park experience. This blog post is about our journey there, and that's really it, because we went to Joypolis, rode the rides, I felt sick, recovered, rode more rides and then went home and took almost no photos inside.
Outside was a slightly different story though. We jumped on a couple of connecting metro trains, some sections were kind of like a rollercoaster, over the Rainbow Bridge and off near the Statue of Liberty, no typo.
Outside was a slightly different story though. We jumped on a couple of connecting metro trains, some sections were kind of like a rollercoaster, over the Rainbow Bridge and off near the Statue of Liberty, no typo.
A short video of the Rainbow Bridge, Gundam Base & Joypolis
Rainbow Bridge
Rainbow Bridge at the back, Statue of Liberty at the front, people are a couple of meters away from the base, so it's a small statue.
We wandered South East to go check out the Unicorn Gundam Statue, and it was bloody massive, a very cool feature of the shopping centre we ended up exploring.
The Telecom Centre
Fuji Television Network, Inc
Fuji Television Network, Inc. stairs...to destroy your will on your way to work.
Flame of Liberty Statue, a symbol of relations between France & Japan.
We walked a little further ad there it was...
It was pretty magnificent. We walked inside the mall adjacent to it, shot up to the top level and explored the Gundam Base. A store entirely devoted to Gundam toys. What is a Gundam you say? I have no idea, some sort of fighting robot. I don't understand it, but I love it.
Completing our days mission of course was visiting the Joypolis complex. An indoor theme park for video games using virtual reality and interactive physical rides. It kind of reminded me of Sega World in London. I had to bow out for a bit after having to sprint for my life on the Sonic & Mario Olympic games, but in the end we made the most of our day there, experiencing safari rides and even surviving not one but two horror sensory experiences. Unlike the other participants who found themselves screaming and crying through the experience. There's some clips on the video i linked earlier.
