the tall blond guy goes to japan

Leftovers

Kagoshima

I did lots of little things today, really. No big quest to find out about the life of Saigo-san, just lots of wandering (and man, do my feet hurt...).

Seems a buddy of Saigo-san's got married, and wanted to go somewhere quiet with his wife on a vacation of sorts. Saigo-san recommended Kagoshima -- er, Satusma -- as being a really nice quiet spot to visit. This was long before Saigo came back to Satsuma and started raising hell, of course, so it really was a nice quiet place to go. Thankfully, all that restoration stuff is over with, and it's nice and quiet again.

Streight to the moon, Alice!

Apparently, these were Kagoshima's first honeymooners. Since they were in with Saigo-san, they got themselves a statue and a small park. Oooh-la la!

Across the street from the honeymooners, there was a really cool-looking building. The thing was just dripping with fun. I could tell this was a cool place. But was it open? It was rather deserted (but after all, it is only Wednesday night). The main building was full of video games, there was an open-air amusement park in the back (closed), and there was an odd building off to the side with "Imax" written on it.

Always being one to support Canadian inventions, I decided to figure out what the Imax thing was all about.

What's an Imax Ridefilm?

I bought a ticket form the machine and walked into the darkened room. A woman ushered me through a door and I entered a vestibule-type area. Looks like the first room to the haunted house ride at Disneyland. Very gothic. What did I just buy a ticket for? What's a ridefilm?

A TV turned itself on and started answering those questions for me. The entire theatre bounces around while a large-screen, high resolution film plays. Ah! Okay! Cool!

Sugoi!

It was the best one of those things I've ever been on. The theatre was very bouncy and jerky, the film was perfectly integrated with the motion, and it was funny! Really quite incredible.

Question: Why does tiny little Kagoshima warrent their own Tower Records, while much bigger Vancouver does not? Oh well, A&B's better anyway. Thpfft!

Oh- before I close this window, I should mention that several of the taxi drivers here speak at least a little English (don't count on it though). The ones that do have a sticker in the window saying "English". Unfortunately for any English-speaking people, this sticker is written in Japanese.