Day: Jyu-Kyu Ninja Wonderland and Tobu World Square

I’m skipping the Saturday Shibuya trip to get to this trip.  I’ll combine that post with the Monday Sumo, but the Sunday Trip deserves a blog.

We crashed at our co-worker, Ryan’s, on Saturday.  We had to get up Sunday at 5:30A.M. to catch a 6:20 train to Yokohama to catch a 7:20 train in Asakaska going to Nikko.  Confused? Let’s just say it was too damn early to be up.  But we got to the main train which would take us to the rural area of Japan.  It was a 2 hour ride out of Tokyo to Nikko.

I was a tired dude.  3 hours of trains and waking up early.

But the scenery on the train ride was pretty cool. I bet there was stuff that was even cooler while I was asleep.  Definitely faded in and out of sleep.

Once we got off the train, we dropped by a Mini-mart and grabbed some gloves and grub. That’s where I found the most bad ass can of coffee ever.

Coffee in cans is pretty big in Japan.  It’s always been, even when I was younger.  They sell it warm, which is nice.  However, I’ve never seen a coffee can this bad ass, so I had to buy it.  I can’t read any of the Japanese characters, but I’m pretty sure it says “Bad Ass Samurai Coffee”.

Then we took a bus to Edo Wonderland.  Basically, it’s a park that’s theme is that the place you’re walking into is like being from the Edo period (1600’s). During this period, Ninja’s and Samurai ruled.

The first thing we caught was a Ninjashow.  Live Ninja Action.  In the introduction, the room turned pitch black, then a small light came on, and the guy backflip jumped from a wall about 10 feet high to a section of the stage right next to us.  They’d constantly turn it pitch black, then back on with some small lights and fought.  While the props were obviously of lower budget, I’d put some of the action on par or a little above Ka in Las Vegas.  It really was that good.

The dude on the left is like the Shinobi Ninja.  From what I gather, he was the most bad ass of bad ass ninjas.  He did the “sit indian style and do super power hand motions” in one of the scenes.  It was simple, yet looked absolutely bad ass.  Here, he’s in a goofy pose.

And here I’m with my ninja Ninja! He’s the good ninja and rocked the Shinobi’s world after the Shinobi killed Master.  Never kill master.

And another one with my Ninjas!

Afterwards, we got to play like Ninja and shoot some bows and arrows.  Everyone got a prize for how good they were.  Ryan over there got a crazy stuffed animal.   I got a postcard. It said “Ninja you suck at Bow and Arrow!”

Next we checked out the Ninja maze. How ha

rd could a Ninja maze be, right?

Wrong.  We wandered around for aw

hile, lost and going in circles.  Then we stumbled upon this.

Umm, yeah, walk through that and I might as well give up my DBAB card.

Eventually, we found a trick door (basically we followed some decent girls around since we were lost anyway and they found a door) and walked to the center house of victory!  Lesson of the story, follow good looking girls.

This was also known as the MAN exit.

Then we entered the Ninja House of Illusion. It’s built slanted, and everything’s placed in the room at an angle.  Walking into you, your mind gets effed with.  I had a nauseous feeling just from it.  Them Ninja were smart.

The floor is angled, so the direction I’m facing is actually vertical, we just tilted the camera properly so it looks like I’m defying gravity.  Or as junior likes to call it, everyday life.

When we left, a ninja tried to sneak attack me, so I had to pull out my Matsume Sword and beat him down.

And then the Ninja called his crazy mascot friend.  I have no idea man.  I have no idea.

Then we walked by the main deity that the Ninja worshipped.  By the way, he’s dipped in Gold.  Basically, he’s the most bad ass of them all.

Also, we walked by some ancient Samurai Gear.  That was dope.  One of my biggest regrets was not splurging to dress up as a samurai.  For 5000 Yen (55 bucks), you could get dressed up in some Samurai Gear for the whole day.  It was cold as heck, and 55 is a lot to throw down.  Looking back though, I don’t know if the opportunity to dress up in Samurai Gear will ever arise again.  So now, I’m regretting it.

Really, the place is cool.  See above.

At noon they had an outdoor Ninja Show.  It was awesome, but not as awesome as the first one.

And then we went to see some wax museum type joints.  They were a litttle spooky.

Like all other countries, it’s not a good sign when the white man comes a conquistadoring. Uhh, man this pictures a little too spoooky.

And I don’t even know what the heck is going on here.

I do know this dude done got uhfed up.

Then we watched another show.  Apparently it was a comedy.  The old man killed it with the crowd!  Except for the three Americans who couldn’t understand a word.  Everyone was cracking up except for us.  I felt bad, but man, language is such an important part of comedy.

Then we went to watch this lady do some water magic.

She basically made water go out of a ton of places.  I couldn’t help but think that this type of show had some sexual tension in it back in the day.

Then we left Edo land at 2:40p.m.  I had a blast there.

So we took a bus to Tobu World Square, but we stopped to eat some dope Ramen before we went in.

Then we went in to Tobu World Square.  In summary, it’s a place where they have a ton of modern world wonders squared down to 1:25 scale.  It’s neat, but not as interesting as Edo Wonderland.  I thought it was cool and highly detailed, but lost interest in each depiction quickly.  That is until I figured out you could take some Danzilla pictures.  Enjoy!

Then we took another 4 hours on trains to get back home.  7 hours of train time.  Worth it.