Kodomono Kuni (Children's World)

It's in the 70s today! Woohoo! A day for shorts (finally!). Of course, it seems to be taboo to wear shorts in this country. I was the only one doing so (besides the children). According to Taka, virtually all men wear pants in the summer, as it is considered rude to show leg hair here. Guess I have to keep up on shaving my legs!

We had a full day today. We traveled by train for about an hour each way to get to Kodomono Kuni, Children's World in English. [Check out the Women's only train (weekday AM).] This place was laid out on a huge piece of land and we did A LOT of walking from one "area" to the next. I think I was expecting a Six Flags type place, but was suprised to find it was more like a children's Stone Mountain (thanks for the analogy Taka).
Andrew had a blast (I think we all had fun) and we even got exercise! Talk about a perfect day for visiting. It wasn't too crowded (suprisingly for Golden Week). The train that goes to Kodomokuni, was actually the Kodomonokuni line. There is only one other stop, so its entire purpose to take us to Children's World. Weird. :)

We walked to the front gate from the train station (not a short walk, mind you), and came upon carp "kites" flying from the tree.

These carp are flown to represent an upcoming holiday, Kodomo No Hi, or Children's Day, which is coming up on May 5.

The fee of 600Yen (about $5.30US) gained us entrance into this big "world" and only a few of the attractions therein cost money. We spent about 2200Yen (about $19.46US) throughout the day on rides and drinks, including admission to the park.

When you first enter the park, there is a huge asphalt area covered in chalk writings. As we walked further in we came upon a big box full of colored chalk, and Andrew set to work.

The first attraction we visited was a children's roller coaster area. There was a great roller coaster for children (very slow and only onesmall hill). You even had to peddle along to help it pick up speed. Andrew and I got on the coaster and he had a blast. As with most things today, he immediately stated "I want to do that again" when we got off. Next, Andrew and Taka rode the helicopter ride, which required you to pedal your helicopter along a roller coaster type "road", but with no hills). Each of those rides were 150Yen each, which is only a little over $1.

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Next we found bumper cars for the younger kids. For 200Yen, Andrew got to drive around the "rink" a PERCY (then later a THOMAS) bumper car! We moved on to the next area, and passed multiple play areas along the way.

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One of the most unique we passed is the pink windy climbing thing *shrug* which was made out of the material (mesh fabric) you see in McDonalds and Chuck E Cheese climbing forts, but it is all the way through the tunnels. Also, the box toy structure could be climbed from the inside or the outside. Taka read a sign that said the park is partially funded from the Japanese lottery system. All the schools in Japan are private, so I guess parks are the next best thing for funding.

Next we set off for the dairy area, where they make milk and other dairy products, the petting zoo, and the pony ride. We skipped the ice cream shopWe visited with the cows and the sheep, and even fed the cows. (I can't wait to take Andrew to the Yellow River Game Ranch again, back home).

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Look, a juice box vending machine. What a great idea!! And, to the left you can see one of the walking areas. We did a LOT of walking!

This sign at the duck pond is telling kids not to be alarmed, that the ducks are not picking on one another, as it is the season of love. *grin*




A water play area for the kids to get in, or wade through.








We rode the pedal boats on the lake!








A HUGE slide made of rollers for sliding. Andrew wouldn't slide fast, as he wanted to push himself along, so they had several kids lined up behind them!

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Wow!! What a slide, and an obsticle course to climb!

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The train ride home...