All is not well with a fun park when the loudest screams come not from its white-knuckle rides but from behind the desk of its chief accountant.
Those cries for help have grown louder in Japan, where the theme park industry took off during the bubble years of the late-1980s and early-1990s, only to plunge towards earth amid the screeching of brakes a decade later.
Faced with mounting debts, lower visitor numbers and lenders under increasing pressure to dispose of their bad loans, dozens of theme parks, fun fairs and mock villages have been forced to adapt, seek outside help or pull the tarpaulin over their merry-go-rounds for the last time.
Among the big-name victims is Seagaia, an indoor tropical beach resort in south-west Japan that went under with debts of ?326 billion (US$3.02 billion) in 2001. Its rehabilitation as an international holiday and convention center is in the hands of Ripplewood Holdings, which snapped up Seagaia's 3,000 hectares for only US$120 million.
Seagaia was soon followed by Huis Ten Bosch, an expensive, extravagant recreation of a colonial-era Dutch village which collapsed under the weight of ?229 billion in accumulated debts last year.
So have the Japanese fallen out of love with their theme parks? If the fortunes of the Universal Studios Japan (USJ) are any indication, they are simply playing hard to get.
When the 54-hectare Hollywood theme park -- Universal's first outside the US -- opened in Osaka three years ago, hopes were high it would give the depressed city a much-needed boost.
In its first year, it delivered as promised: more than 11 million people poured through the turn-stiles to eat American fast food, relive the most eyebrow-singeing scenes from Backdraft and follow the shotgun-toting governor of California as he put the world to rights in Terminator 2-3D. But in 2002, the park was hit by a string of scandals involving outdated food, industrial water in drinking fountains and the excessive use of explosives for a live show. That year visitor numbers slumped by 30 percent to just over 7 million, leaving USJ saddled with a net annual loss of ?9.3 billion.
A superhuman effort would be needed to turn USJ's fortunes around. And in the end it was left to a superhero.
The introduction of cheap ticket deals and, in January, of the Amazing Adventures of Spiderman -- a high-speed swoop through a 3D Manhattan -- visitor numbers have risen to 9.8 million. After three years in the red, USJ says, the park should post its first annual profit next year.
Not everyone welcomed Spiderman's dramatic entrance. To finance the US$127 million ride, USJ had to ask the Osaka government (its main shareholder, with a 25 percent stake) for a ?5 billion loan, on top of the ?23 billion it already owes the city -- cash the critics say had more deserving recipients.
But Daniel Jensen, USJ's executive vice-president, insists it was money well spent.
"It is the most expensive stand-alone attraction, and given that we were coming off a decline in attendance it was a significant amount of money to invest," he said. "But if it delivers the kinds of number that we believe it can, it's going to be a huge hit for us."
Jensen said he understood the concern about Osaka city's generosity in lean times, but added: "What has the city got for its investment? We have got 6,000 jobs on property. Research studies I've read suggest there are about 20,000 jobs in the Kansai area [around Osaka] and about 35,000 jobs throughout Japan that are directly attributable to Universal Studios Japan. We provide a significant inbound source of tourist spending in other parts of the Kansai area that we never see, touch or feel."
Though only a few miles from USJ in central Osaka, Yoshimoto Shotengai (Laughter Street) occupies a different theme park universe. Modestly sized and promising absolutely no thrills, it panders unapologetically to the city's famously fun-loving citizens with a blend of nostalgic kitsch, cheap and filling food -- and a very unsubtle sense of humor.
Since it opened at the end of last month, more than 2,000 people a day have walked through the park's gaudily lit entrance and back in time along the narrow backstreets of 1960s Osaka. There, they can joke with interactive life-size models of their favorite comedians and tuck into the local delicacy of octopus chunks in fried batter.
The merchant class that built Osaka would approve: the Yoshimoto park was built in only a couple of months for a measly ?2 billion -- ?1 billion below budget.
"They should have asked us to build the Olympic facilities in Athens," says Takashi Kitahara of Yoshimoto Kogyo, whose concerns include the park, theaters and a stable of some of the most popular comedians in Japan, including Takashi Fujii, the blonde chat-show host in the film Lost in Translation.
"We are getting many more visitors than we expected, and should break even in a couple of years' time," he said. "But we've also got to be realistic and admit the day may come when people get fed up. They are more careful these days; they won't spend their money on rubbish, so we've got to keep proving ourselves, just like our comedians."
Tokyo Disneyland -- the most popular tourist destination in east Asia -- has avoided the problems of its rivals partly by ploughing money into updating and expanding its attractions. Together with its latest addition, Disney Sea, the home of Mickey Mouse and Cinderella has pulled in 335 million visitors since 1983.
Other parks are beginning to learn and are closing down unpopular rides and replacing them with spa facilities and live entertainment -- anything to appeal to a public demanding a more memorable fix of fun for its yen.
The Japanese are learning to love theme parks again, but only those that really make them scream or laugh.
The government is aiming to recruit 1,096 foreign English teachers and teaching assistants this year, the Ministry of Education said yesterday. The foreign teachers would work closely with elementary and junior-high instructors to create and teach courses, ministry official Tsai Yi-ching (蔡宜靜) said. Together, they would create an immersive language environment, helping to motivate students while enhancing the skills of local teachers, she said. The ministry has since 2021 been recruiting foreign teachers through the Taiwan Foreign English Teacher Program, which offers placement, salary, housing and other benefits to eligible foreign teachers. Two centers serving northern and southern Taiwan assist in recruiting and training
WIDE NET: Health officials said they are considering all possibilities, such as bongkrekic acid, while the city mayor said they have not ruled out the possibility of a malicious act of poisoning Two people who dined at a restaurant in Taipei’s Far Eastern Department Store Xinyi A13 last week have died, while four are in intensive care, the Taipei Department of Health said yesterday. All of the outlets of Malaysian vegetarian restaurant franchise Polam Kopitiam have been ordered to close pending an investigation after 11 people became ill due to suspected food poisoning, city officials told a news conference in Taipei. The first fatality, a 39-year-old man who ate at the restaurant on Friday last week, died of kidney failure two days later at the city’s Mackay Memorial Hospital. A 66-year-old man who dined
RESTAURANT POISONING? Deputy Minister of Health and Welfare Victor Wang at a press conference last night said this was the first time bongkrekic acid was detected in Taiwan An autopsy discovered bongkrekic acid in a specimen collected from a person who died from food poisoning after dining at the Malaysian restaurant chain Polam Kopitiam, the Ministry of Health and Welfare said at a news conference last night. It was the first time bongkrekic acid was detected in Taiwan, Deputy Minister of Health and Welfare Victor Wang (王必勝) said. The testing conducted by forensic specialists at National Taiwan University was facilitated after a hospital voluntarily offered standard samples it had in stock that are required to test for bongkrekic acid, he said. Wang told the news conference that testing would continue despite
‘CARRIER KILLERS’: The Tuo Chiang-class corvettes’ stealth capability means they have a radar cross-section as small as the size of a fishing boat, an analyst said President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) yesterday presided over a ceremony at Yilan County’s Suao Harbor (蘇澳港), where the navy took delivery of two indigenous Tuo Chiang-class corvettes. The corvettes, An Chiang (安江) and Wan Chiang (萬江), along with the introduction of the coast guard’s third and fourth 4,000-tonne cutters earlier this month, are a testament to Taiwan’s shipbuilding capability and signify the nation’s resolve to defend democracy and freedom, Tsai said. The vessels are also the last two of six Tuo Chiang-class corvettes ordered from Lungteh Shipbuilding Co (龍德造船) by the navy, Tsai said. The first Tuo Chiang-class vessel delivered was Ta Chiang (塔江)