Japan Trip: Hanayashiki and Yomiuriland (10/03/2024)

This is the first blog post from my 13 day trip this March to Japan, which primarily centred on theme parks and attractions. For context, I studied East Asian Studies, focusing on Japanese, at university and lived in Kyoto, Japan, for a year, but this was my first time back in Japan since then - a whole decade later! I'd only been to Universal Studios Japan before this trip, and the friend I travelled with had never been to Japan, but she can also speak a decent amount of Japanese. I hope these blogs are helpful for anyone planning a theme park-filled trip to Japan!

All photos of Hanayashiki tend to look this chaotic.

Hanayashiki: Small But Perfectly Formed

It seems fitting that the first of our eight-park trip in Japan was Hanayashiki, Japan’s oldest operating amusement park; we’d be starting from a beginning of sorts, and my travel buddy and I would both be getting our first rides on a rollercoaster made by the quintessential (and infamous abroad) defunct Japanese ride manufacturer, Togo. 

We didn’t buy our tickets in advance, as the park seemed unlikely to sell out first thing in the morning, and the Japanese language website required a Japanese postal address and phone number, so we suspected it might not work for us, as Fuji Q Highland’s ticket system also hadn’t. The English language site doesn’t even include an option to buy tickets in advance. In fact, all of the theme parks and attractions we visited have radically different English and Japanese language websites, except for Tokyo Disney Resort, and to some extent Universal Studios, so even if you don’t understand Japanese, it might be worth checking out the Japanese website too and translating it.

As we lined up like the keenest of beans thirty minutes before the park opened, amongst a modest crowd of Tokyoite families with their young children, it became apparent that despite the fact that the area the park is situated in, Asakusa, is a circle of tourist hell I have only experienced before on Oxford Street in London, Hanayashiki is a relative oasis, primarily frequented by locals. The park certainly got busier as the morning went on, but unlike in the surrounding streets, teeming with tourists chowing down on Asakusa’s latest street food fad or trying to catch a glimpse of Sensōji temple over a sea of heads, there was still enough space to appreciate the park’s design and soak up its atmosphere, even on a Sunday. 

And it’s a park that’s certainly worth taking the time to fully soak up; it would be hard to describe Hanayashiki as traditionally pretty for the most part, with its aesthetics stuck in a 1950s-1980s post-war Japan bubble of brash colours and car park-esque ride stations, piled on top of each other and set against a backdrop of nondescript midrise buildings. However, there is still something incredibly charming about the place and it all works together to build a concentrated corner of Japanese mid-to-late twentieth century childhood nostalgia.

The Rides

None of the rides at Hanayashiki are anything to write home about; they’re all aimed squarely at children, but Hanayashiki is less about the rides themselves than about experiencing nostalgia; either your own, or borrowed from a bygone era. We found it just about value for money to purchase the ride pass on top of admission (4000 yen in total, or roughly £21.30), as we chose to do seven rides within our two hours of strolling around the park.

After purchasing our ‘Free Pass’ (unlimited ride pass) once inside the park from a booth, we started our day rope-dropping Japan’s oldest operating rollercoaster, the 1953 family Togo imaginatively called Roller Coaster. We were pleasantly surprised that despite its age, somewhat janky appearance, and suspiciously thick seat padding, it wasn’t rough at all. Roller Coaster is one of several rides that interact nicely with the park due to the site’s ultra-compact design, so it’s worth riding for the novelty factor, even though it’s not at all thrilling. 

The retro ride station of the park's only coaster, Roller Coaster.

Next up was the pirate ship-themed suspended monorail, Sky Ship, which gives excellent views of the park, and was especially photogenic in the sun. This was followed by Thriller Car; a ghost train from 1951, primarily of the variety found in Europe. As with many ghost trains, Thriller Car looks impressive from the outside to draw you in, but is deeply disappointing inside, so if you’re paying per ride, skip this one. 

Skyship, with Tokyo Skytree in the background to the right.

After that, we went on what was the most intense, painful ride of the trip, Little Star. No pastel-painted ride called “Little Star” has any business being as violent as this thing was. I personally haven’t seen this exact ride type in a UK park, but there was also a Peter Rabbit themed one at Nagashima Spa Land later in our trip that we steered clear of – although admittedly it appeared to have kinder restraints. Little Star is billed as a children’s ride, but as its star-shaped torture cages spin you head over heels in intense tight circles for its whole cycle, with just a rock-hard metal-encased lap belt to hold you in place, this feels like a Huss Top Spin cranked up to 11. And I love Huss Top Spins. Heck, I find Talocan at Phantasialand relaxing. However, I have never suffered such immediate bruising and rope burn (?!) from a ride before and I hope never to again. I recommend this ride only for people who have always dreamed of being a sock inside a particularly vengeful washing machine.

After being beaten up thoroughly by Little Star, we went on Bikkuri House, a haunted swing/madhouse that’s been operating since 1947 – the park’s oldest ride. Only seating around 8-12 guests, knees almost touching, this is a far smaller affair than the now ubiquitous Vekoma Madhouse, but oh boy does it pack a punch. I’ve never been affected by larger Madhouses but Bikkuri House made both me and my friend feel instantly unwell as soon as the “spinning” started and the illusion was actually far more effective. One for the masochists!

Feeling distinctly queasy, we wandered around a small garden area in the park to shake off the sickness, before heading to the park’s haunted house, billed as an Edo era (specifically 1800s) style haunted house for a modern audience. This short, paid walkthrough, which guests enter one group at a time, utilises Japanese folk ghost tales for its imagery but an in-depth knowledge of Japanese spirits isn’t necessary as the primary spook factor is just that it’s (stupidly) dark. It was fine at best.

Our final “ride” of the morning was an under-5 minute show, Panorama Time Travel, going back in time on the grounds of Hanayashiki. A little old man ushered the two of us into a square room with a handful of static stools, before we were closed in and a 360 view of Hanayashiki was projected onto the white walls, sending us flying over the rides and into an animated Tokyo of yore. Soarin’ this ain’t, but for such a small park, it was nice to see something unique and so tailored to Hanayashiki itself. 

Beyond our ride pass, we also each took a coin-operated Panda Car for a whirl. The Panda Car is the icon of Hanayashiki, featuring heavily in its branding and merchandise, from keychains to cat beds, and for just 200 yen, you too can sit on the back of a fluffy panda shaped vehicle and drive it in small imprecise circles around the back of the smoking area! It’s a must-do at Hanayashiki, even if you look slightly ridiculous whilst trying to avoid eye contact with anyone cutting through the neighbouring carpark.

Between the smoking area and a carpark, your chariot awaits!

The Merchandise

Quick shoutout to the retail team of Hanayashiki for somehow creating the best selection of merch of the trip. Hanayashiki seems to be very confident in its identity and this is reflected in almost every bit of its merch being a banger (providing you like the Panda Car). Outside of a few gems that get brought up in every single Japan theme park vlog, both Universal Studios Japan and Tokyo Disney Resort seem to throw a lot of generic tat at the wall to see what sticks and as a result, I left with just as much merch for a park the size of a single Disney show building as I did from either headliner resort. 

I would have bought the cat bed for my cat if I'd had the luggage space.

Overall Verdict

Hanayashiki is absolutely worth a visit if you’re interested in seeing an old-fashioned small scale Japanese amusement park done well; I left besotted with the place. You’ll likely only need a maximum of a couple of hours if you’re visiting at opening (wait times probably rise a fair bit later in the day), but it’s close to other popular tourist spots, so you can slot it into your day. Don’t bother eating in the park (the Panda Car taiyaki I had were awful), but again, there’s plenty to eat nearby. If it matters to you, there’s only one coaster cred here (unless you count Disk’os), but there’s so much more to this park than the rides.

Yomiuriland: The Failed Speed-run

The part-dog/part-alien mascot LandDog is everywhere in this park – thankfully he is a very good boy.

Our second park, Yomiuriland, was our first taste of vastly underestimating crowds and wait times. We knew when planning that Japanese park operations are slow, but somehow we fooled ourselves into thinking that Yomiuriland was too local of a park to be intensely popular and we’d be able to do all four coasters in around four hours on an afternoon ticket if we put our minds to it. Readers, we could not. 

We arrived a little later to the park than originally planned, gliding in on the (optional at 500 yen/£2.60 for a round trip) cable car a little after 4pm, rather than the originally planned 3:30pm, and quickly saw that the kiddie coaster, Wan Wan Coaster Wandit, was closed. It’s nothing special, but it’s themed to the park’s enigmatic and adorable mascot LandDog, so I was disappointed. This was but the first of many missed creds of the trip.

Basking in the warm wide-eyed stare of LandDog.

We were meeting someone my friend knows through the Themed Entertainment Association, so we bought our 3pm-onwards afternoon pass tickets (2900 yen/£15.45) with the small foreign tourist discount you can get by filling out a survey online on the official English website and bringing along the resultant coupon, and then browsed the gift shop until she arrived around 4:30pm. Interestingly, the foreign tourist discount price is still marginally higher than the online Japanese site price, but the booking page wouldn't work for us from the UK. What a surprise!

Heading to our first ride of the night, the Gerstlauer spinning coaster Spin Runway, already cold and hungry, we saw the posted wait time of 75 minutes and decided to start with food instead. I personally hated the udon dish I had as it was very salty, but my vegetarian/ pescatarian friend could at least get a semi-vegetarian meal here (the soup stock almost certainly would have had fish in it), which was a struggle throughout the trip. Sneaky mystery meat would end up everywhere!

The Rides

After half a bowl of noodles, we braved the now roughly 80-minute queue for Spin Runway. The queue is very well designed, featuring a giant animatronic cat, an appearance from LandDog, and an interactive photo spot, but the ride itself was a little disappointing. I enjoy a good family spinner - Space Fantasy at Universal Studios Japan sits near the top of my coaster rankings from when I rode it 10 years ago on my year abroad - but this coaster didn’t do much. There was a button to press at various points on the ride but it didn’t seem to have any impact on the experience, so we were left wondering if the effect had broken. 

I’m still not sure what the giant cat had to do with the ride, but I liked it.

Once we were freed from Spin Runway’s queue around 7pm, we realised we only had time for one more ride of the night as the park closed at 8pm, so we decided to make it Bandit, a Togo that was the fastest coaster in the world when it opened in 1988. By this point, night had fallen, and as we were visiting on one of the park’s winter illuminations evenings (“Jewellumination”), we were treated to stunning views from the lift-hill of the park all lit up, from waterslide to coaster track. Bandit is a solid coaster; relatively smooth and just plain fun as a night ride, especially with your car racing along a string of pink fairy lights. 

A view of the park from near the entrance, with headline coaster Bandit looming to the right.

Side note for glasses wearers: despite the collective Internet saying otherwise, I was able to wear my glasses with a strap attached on all but one coaster of our trip (Flying Dinosaur at USJ), so this included both Spin Runway and Bandit. I suspect however that this might not be allowed if you don’t demonstrate some knowledge of Japanese. After being told to remove my glasses, I explained in Japanese that I was wearing a strap, and they said it was fine as long as I was okay with them not being retrieved if they fell off. This was repeated to me once I was seated on the ride. It’s worth noting that in Japan you are held personally liable for any injuries you cause to other guests due to your behaviour or loose articles, so they are keen to point this out and many rides at parks have all guests agree to these terms by making guests complete a certain action, such as accepting a wristband that you return before riding. If you don’t demonstrate an understanding of Japanese, staff may not feel satisfied that you understand that the park waives responsibility for your glasses poking someone’s eye out. 

Overall Verdict

It’s hard to fairly assess Yomiuriland based off of our four-hour visit alone; we obviously didn’t get to experience most of its rides and what we did do was in a jet-lagged daze. To give it the best chance of impressing, it definitely needs a full day, especially since the park is over an hour away from central Tokyo. Yomiuriland is certainly an amusement park not a theme park, but it does have some good theming and has clearly put thought into trying to create cohesion in its new-ish area, GOOD JOB, themed to Japanese industry.

The view of Jewellumination’s lights at park close from the cable car.

Yomiuriland can definitely deliver some magical moments: after a little sit down in the warmth of the park’s Starbucks, and some merch shopping, we experienced a beautiful twinkling ride on the cable car back to the train station. It was a lovely end to the evening, despite the disappointment of only getting on two rides. I would potentially come back to Yomiuriland, but only if I was on a particularly long trip, as there are so many other parks vying for attention.