Adventures in Expoland

This past week I had the extreme pleasure of being invited to Expoland. This was the first proper field trip that I've gotten to go on while working here in Japan. I went with chugakko ichi nenn sai (basically 7th graders). Now when I was a teacher, I had to justify the educational value of any field trips that I planned for my students. I can tell you, there wasn't a bit of educational value to this trip. It was pure enjoyment for the students and for me.

Expoland is supposedly the place to go if you like roller coasters. In fact I got to choose which trip to attend, Shirahama Zoo or Expoland. Since I lived in San Diego and visited the most famous zoo in the world, I opted for the coasters. Pictured above is Orochi; it's the newest and best coaster at Expoland. There are only 4 coasters at Expoland and basically the other 3 are just plain boring and extremely rickety. Orochi is one of those coasters were your feet dangle and has lots of smooth loops. My favorite type of coaster.

Here is another shot of some of the rides. Basically Expoland is a very small amusement park compared with the ones that I've been to in the states. Imagine Six Flags over Texas but maybe one fourth of the size. Supposedly Expoland was created for the 1970 International Exposition. After that event it basically was unused. Then in the 80's it supposedly got a face lift with the addition of modern rides. Click here to check out their english website.

This is me posing with my 2nd favorite character (Hello Kitty is #1) Anpanman. To the left of me is his creator/healer/baker, Jam Oijisan, and to the right is Currypanman. There is a huge variety of characters and they all seem very diverse and colorful (not all boring white bread if you know what I mean, however there is Shokupanman and his head is a piece of white bread). Click here to read more about Anpanman. Basically Anpanman is a bread super hero and extremely popular here in Japan. I was surprised to find out that there is actually an Anpan Man museum. Check it out.

Here are some of my students giving the traditional pose while enjoying some sugary treats. Not only do they have a classroom uniform, but yes they also have an exercise sports uniform. Overall the field trip was fun, however I don't think that I would actually pay to go to Expoland again (this trip was free for me.....Whewwww Whoooooo). There are much better amusement parks to throw your money at. Oh and educationally I learned...... well as you get older your equilibrium isn't what it use to be. The coaster made me dizzy and I don't remember getting so dizzy when I was a kid.

Follow up: Upon further Anpanman research I came across this page. I love the bit at the bottom comparing Anpanman to Jesus. Here is the excert:

Are the adventures of Anpanman an analogy of the mission of Jesus Christ?

No. While both Jesus Christ and Anpanman were immaculately conceived, and while both were born in humble locations beneath a bright and shining star, and while both live(d) selfless lives dedicated to relieving the distressed, and while both exhibit transubstantiation (whereby ordinary bread becomes, in fact, living flesh), and while both ascend into heaven, and while the images of both frequently and miraculously appear in tortillas, hubcaps and oil spots...the similarities end there.