ikoma zan
Mist clouded my path. I walked with uncertainty. The future is unknown. I needed guidance.
Guidance came in the form of a song. It sounded faint and uncertain, probably from far far away. I followed the song deep into the mist.
Slowly but certainly, the mist shrouded the world. Seeing nothing, I went nowhere. The sound of the birds stopped (not that there were any to begin with). Blinded, directionless, I awaited my next hint. And the song started again. A song of foreign tongue. Not a sadly song. Not chilly. Not even ghostly.
I don't know the name of the song, but I was sure the song was...
The song was a cartoon song, and it was cheerful.
Following the song, I saw the pinks, some pink amusement park rides, motionless and lifeless. I reckoned they must have been abandoned for decades and wouldn't be too surprised when a ghost suddenly popped out from one of the rides. However what I saw surprised me far more than a ghost...
I saw a sign... and the sign said "OPEN". In a misty day, on a remote mountain, deserted and miserable, the rides were open? I would never have guessed that in a thousand years.
Nevertheless I paid 300Y to the vending machine and handed the ticket to an operator hidden inside a booth. He activated the rides for me, just for me.
The ride went up and up. It was raining heavily, but the roof of the ride couldn't protect me from the elements. I hid under the protection of my umbrella, which I bought before for 1,000 Yen.
The pink ride took me to an amusement park. An empty amusement park. The coffee table, the roller coaster, and all the rides were empty. The rain poured on.
The story went like "Spirit Away": Chihiro went through the tunnel, arrived at an empty amusement park. Later, she found the park was full of pigs who had eaten the forbidden food...
I didn't see any pigs, but doubtlessly it looked like an empty amusement park. Only it wasn't empty....
People still worked in the park, even though they had zero customer. Everyone stayed in their position, waiting for the customers who would never show up...
In other parts of the world, they would surly closed the park in the low season... This was something below the low season. They had absolutely zero customer (except me), yet they kept the park running..... This was a very amusing amusement park.
The 300Y I paid for the pink ride up was probably the only income for them for the whole day... and they had to share it among... what? 50 workers? I had a feeling this couldn't be real. Maybe it was only a dream... soon the witch Yu-baaba would pop up from somewhere and boo at me.
I met a red robot and asked him how I could leave the park. He pointed me to the east (noticed his left hand?), and I followed his advice.
I found the cable car. It was... it was so kawaii. I had a feeling I would be the only person taking the cable car.
The front of the cable car was decorated with blood red strawberries. I checked the time table, it would leave at 2:45pm and I saw no one around. I hope it was working. I didn't want to walked down the mountain in the pouring rain.
I returned to the mist. Being the only customer, I felt the obligation of contributing some coins to their rides...
I was going to try the "hell house". It was a perfect day for horror. Yet it was closed. I was sure moments ago it was open. Anyway I was glad that they have the good sense of closing the park early..... So I waited for 2:45pm... when the time came, I returned to the cable car. Because of the rain, the pavement was extremely slippery. I slipped and hurt my bums really bad... but I was alive, I dragged my injured body back to the cable car...
I met three Japanese on the cable car. No, none of them were customers. They all worked in the park. One of them lived in Ikoma. He told me it was a quite day.
Even without the rain, I doubted that anyone would take the trouble to visit such a remote place...
They sure had very funny cable cars... I had the impulse of riding them up and back again, but my itinerary hurried me onward... I had to visit the Sensekei in Osaka...
Even the interior of the cable car was decorated with cartoon dogs. I enjoyed the ride, and my adventure in the amusement park ended when the car arrived at Ikoma station. Back to the real world.