Harmony Land Magic

Seeing that Hello Kitty is like the best thing ever invented, it's no surprise that within our circle of friends there are a number of huge, huge fans. She also happens to have a dedicated theme park a mere four and a half hour drive from Kumamoto, appropriately named 'Harmony Land'. Put these two facts together and you have yourself a recipe for road trip success.
So a few weeks ago a bunch of us hired a car, hopped in and off we went on our Kitty-Chan Pilgrimage. Must admit that 5 people in a compact japanese car was pretty tight, but we managed to get there without too many problems, it only took about half an hour after we stopped for feeling to return to my legs.
Here's a happy snap of the crew at the pearly gates: (left to right: Chris, Maggie, Heather, Me and Emer).

The amusement park was a touch creepy really - no doubt built in japan's economic boom thirty years ago, now it's a little bit aged and worn, without being too run down. It was also kind of deserted. Glad that I went with a bunch of people during the day, or it might have been really scary...
We decided to do everything on offer, first ride was some water boat thing.

Here's me pulling a wicked stunt:

Then it was all aboard the kitty-train for an express ride to the next attraction.

We hit Kitty Castle for the best moment of our collective lives so far - meeting Kitty Chan! Wooooaaaaahhhh!

Good times!
There was heaps of other cool stuff in the park, including a couple of wicked kitty-mobiles.
Is it possible to look any tougher while you're in a kitty car?

Some nice views from the roller coaster:
Ferris Wheel Snaps:
After the ferris wheel, it was onto the idiot test, which I failed miserably. By idiot test, I mean teacup ride - you know the ones where you spin yourself around by turning the wheel in the middle?



Here's a couple of video's to give you a better feel for how dangerous and fast we were.





After we got off, didn't feel sick for the next hour and twenty minutes AT ALL.
Emer's sexy kitty chan pose:
Tops day though, Harmony Land really turned it on for us.

Lightweights on the drive back:


On the way home we made a bit of a detour and came back through the Mt Kuju Plateau region, glad we did because the scenery was amazing. Timing was good, the sun was setting as we reached the top of the mountain which made for some excellent viewing.
Mt Kuju Sunset:

Get your timers ready...

And vwoila:
Also got a reasonable snap of the Aso Valley by night:

All in all, and excellent day out.

For more photo's from the day, check out my facebook album:
My Facebook Harmony Land Photos

In other news, I busted my arm on the weekend playing soccer. Have to wear a cast and a sling for five weeks. With what is quite possibly the worst tackle in history, I attempted to steal the ball off an opponent, fucked it up royally, and we both hit the deck. Not exactly sure what happened but I not only managed to give away a free kick, I also broke my arm in the process. Great work Mikey! It's ok though, because everyone knows that having two functional arms is for dorks. Which reminds me -

Inappropriate Joke of the Post:
So this guy rocks up to a fancy dress party wearing nothing but a condom on his nose.
Hostess: "So, ah, who are you meant to be?"
Guy: "Fuck knows".
BADOOM CHING.

Anyways, Japan isn't a bad country to break your arm in, cos everyone eats with chopsticks, there's none of this knife and fork rubbish, so one handed dinners are no problems at all. Could've been worse, it was my left arm, so I can still write n stuff. Little bit over bagging my arm up for showers though. Anyway team, I gotta go and get some eats on. Keep me posted on the news back home.

Max.