Today we were going to go to Moominvalley Park in Hanno, Saitama!
From Akihabara we travelled to Ikebukuro, from where we switched over to a train that would take us to Hanno. The train ride from Ikebukuro to Hanno was almost an hour long. Once we arrived in Hanno, there was no mistaking if we were at the right station, because there were Moomins everywhere in the station. Before we went outside to find our bus stop, we bought some ice creams from one of the vending machines at the station. We also found some brochures about the park at the info desk close by.
We found our bus stop and got to the park uneventfully. It was a little confusing at first to see nobody pay for the fare as they got on the bus, but I soon learned that you pay it as you get off instead.
To get to the entrance of the Moomin park we had to walk through this other "theme park" called Metsä Village that is inspired by Sweden/Norway/Denmark/Finland way of living or something like that, I'm not sure. We just walked passed it. I didn't see any ticket counters in that area, so maybe that portion of the park is free.
We got our tickets to Moomin Valley without even having to wait in line. Sure, there were a lot of people around, but it never got too crowded at any point.
Right after the ticket booth there was a gift shop and some restaurants. The gift shop was called "Alku" and this is THE SHOP where you can buy the moominmug that is exclusive to this park for 4000 yen. They had a purchase limit of 2 mugs per customer only. We bought 2 of them, one for my own collection and the other one was for my mother's co-worker who had asked if we could bring her one.
The gift shop had so many items, it really puts any of the Moomin shops in Finland to shame. But naturally, because it's Moomin, everything was very expensive. Aside from the mug, I didn't buy anything else from here (not that I wasn't tempted though), my mom on the other hand bought some cute stickers and hand towels.
Next to the gift shop was a pancake restaurant, we ogled at the menu for a minute, and thought maybe we could stop by later. We were still at the entrance area, where they had the toilets, coin lockers and probably the only vending machine in the whole park. I remember reading somewhere, that the park was designed to "not feel too Japanese-sy" and that is why they don't have any vending machines around the park as convenient as they are.
A cool thing they had was these poles with an illustration of one of the Moomin books in them, and when you looked up from the illustration there was an object from the picture right there in the background. I thought it was a fun and very simple idea, and it was a shame that they didn't utilize this idea to full extent. At some points the park did feel a little bit too sparse and empty, and adding these kinds of spots would have helped with that. Supposedly there are some number of golden Moomin tails hidden around the park, but we didn't manage to find even one of them, so I don't know if it's even true.
One of the first attractions you come across, following the path to the park is the Moomin's bathhouse. The door is locked and you can only peek through the windows to see inside. I thought this would have been a perfect place to have the Ancestor character placed somewhere inside, but it's just furniture and objects. Most of the outdoors "attractions" are really just photo spots. Everything is either locked up or out of reach (or behind a paywall).
I happened to look over the railing to see how high above the water we were and that's when I saw a turtle swimming right there below us! I've only seen turtles in zoos, so seeing one in the wild really made a special memory. It was short lived moment though, I looked up for a second and then the turtle was gone. The little guy must have dived under because he wasn't swimming that fast. At least I managed to get one photo before it disappeared from view! I also took the opportunity to snap a shot of the ducks swimming by.
Following the path from the bathhouse you start to see glimpses of the Moominhouse past the trees until you arrive in this big open area with many buildings. This is the center of the park. Here you have the Moomin house, the outdoor theater, tiny shops, games, children's play area, indoor theater and the Kokemus building, which has a restaurant, shop and an exhibition hall, everything in one building.
The outdoor theater's sitting area was filled with people, so a show was about to start. We stayed and watched the beginning of the show. The play was the story of Moomin and his friend finding the Hobgoblin's magical hat, that turns an egg shell into clouds you can fly on. They were using hoverboards as the clouds, how clever. We were watching the show from far back and the sun was up so high that the back wall of the theater didn't give any shade. We were trying to watch the play with the sun constantly in our eyes. That got really uncomfortable really fast so we moved to the side. It was easier on our eyes, but theater play's aren't really meant to be viewed from a side view, so we decided to move on and see what else the park had to offer.
It's hard to ignore the big blue Moominhouse standing there, but unfortunately you are only allowed inside on guided tours that will cost you extra. We weren't really sure how the booking of a tour of the house would work, so we skipped it. I would have loved to see it, but there was probably more than enough to see in the park without having to pay extra for it.
To the left of the Moomin house was the eyesore of a building Kokemus (“Kokemus” is Finnish for “experience”), and in front of it was this cute statue of Moomintroll sitting on top of this bench looking thing. It was a very popular photo spot, so of course we waited for an opening to get some photos taken there too. The "bench" was awfully ill suited for sitting. It was so slippery, that I had to actively use my legs to press against the ground to keep me from sliding off it. I mean, it looks nice and all but it was impossible to sit on!
I thought the Moomintroll statue looked familiar, and I think it is based on the bronze statue they have in the Moomin museum in Tampere. The only big difference is the tail. The bronze statue's tail doesn't curve around his feet like this one's does. The park statue is carved out of stone or marble so it makes sense they changed that detail, the tail would probably be the first thing to break off.
We went to check out the store inside Kokemus, which is advertised, I believe, as the biggest Moomin shop in the world! It was indeed very spacious compared to other Moomin shops I've been to and had a very big selection of items. It was a bit surreal to see that they also had some of the same stuff (those plushies) that they sell at in the Finnish shops too.
Despite their great selection, I ended up only buying one Gachapon capsule from the store and this copper medallion (or penny) with the park's logo on it. I fed the machine 330 yen and chose the logo picture out of 6 designs available and watched the machine press down the image. The only item I really wanted to buy was this Nanoblock Moominhouse but they were sold out!
We went back outside to check out all the other smaller buildings in the central area. Most of them were just tiny shops with a limited selection of items, for example, one store only had Little My themed items. There was this play a game & win a prize place, a "fast food" place where you could grab something to eat, if you didn't feel like going into one of the restaurants. Photography station where you could get your photo taken with a Moomin character. And there was even fully functional a post office, with every wall covered in Moomin postcards. I thought it would have been fun to send a card to someone, until I rationalize, that I don't personally know anybody who likes the Moomins as much as I do, so sending someone a card would be a waste of time. So we moved along and followed the path that led us to the lighthouse, glimpsing some fun little details along the way (and a huge wild spider!)
The lighthouse door was open, so you got a better look inside, even if you weren't allowed to enter it. But it's only one room so there isn't that much to take in. I followed the ladder upstairs with my eyes and saw something written on the wall. I couldn't make out what it said, but thanks to the zoom on my camera, I was about to find out.
It was written in Swedish, although every Swedish letter Å was replaced with the letter Ä. I didn't recognize it right away, but after some deduction I figured it must be something taken out from the Moominbook where the lighthouse appears in (Moominpappa at Sea). After some further googling, I found the full version of the poem that reads;
Det är så tomt på havet
där över månen står
där gingo inga segel
på fyra långa år.
Den tredje oktober.
Det är min födelsedagsfest
men ingen finns som firar den
och vinden blåser från sydväst
och det är regnväder igen.
-Tove Jansson, Pappan och havet, 1965
Now this is a really cool detail! Too bad it is so easily missed if you don't happen to look up at the right time. Doesn't probably help that it is written in Swedish and there is no translation available anywhere on the site that I noticed.
Further ahead from the lighthouse, we found Snufkin's tent, and I'm sorry, but that was just very low effort and sad looking. Surely, something more could have been done to lively up the place. It's just an empty tent sitting on a platform, nothing about it looks natural. I liked the little dragon silhouette detail on the lantern nearby, but that's about it. I found out later, that sometime during the day, Snufkin has these "meet and greet" type of things here at the campsite. We obviously missed it, but I still think something more could have been done to make the place more interesting outside meeting the character in question.
We followed the path up a hill where there was a children's playground. Nothing much else for us to see here, so we went back down and made our way back to the center of the park. It was time to check out the exhibitions inside the Kokemus building.
We went to see the Tove Jansson's life exhibition first. Taking photographs was prohibited in that specific exhibition, but at the other exhibition about the characters of Moomin world, it was allowed. The Tove exhibition was very traditional, nothing different from what you'd expect going into any sort of museum. I think I liked the character exhibition a little bit more, just because I was left inspired by some of the displays.
My favorite thing about the whole park was this amazingly colorful, huge diorama by the central staircase. It was so incredibly detailed, it was hard to decide where to look first. One of the most amazing things I've ever seen, I loved everything about it.
Moving on, we found ourselves wandering from one room to another that were decorated with themes after the illustrated Moomin storybooks. Almost every room had these cute statues you could pose or interact with. I think we may have accidentally walked this thing in reverse order. The first room we entered was at the end of one of the storybooks. I don't think it matters that much in which order you go through the rooms, surely they would have placed some block to prevent people entering it the wrong way if it did.
Once we were done at Kokemus, we thought we had seen the most of it what the park had to offer and started heading back to the park entrance. It was starting to get dark and all the decorative outdoor lights were light up. It was really pretty walking the way back to the bus stop.
So, we kinda forgot to eat anything during the day. I was so tired, I don't even remember much from between getting on the bus and getting back to Ikebukuro. Anyway, we went by the supermarket to get something to eat before returning back to the hotel. They were showing classic Gundam and DragonBall GT on the TV that I watched while I unpacked our modest shopping haul of today; the mug for my own collection, two Gachapon figures and the copper medal and the stickers and hand towels my mom bought. Sometimes it is equally satisfying not to buy much anything as it is to spend too much, like I usually do.
I enjoyed the day at the park. Perhaps we happened to be there on a quiet day, because there were so few people around, it was very relaxed compared to the likes of Disneyland. However, I can understand those who would find Moominvalley Park too boring, because there really isn't that many things to do. I think the park could add on or two things (that aren't hidden behind a paywall) to make it more interesting/entertaining. But build too much and you lose the appeal of the whole forest aspect, which is probably the whole selling point to people who live in big cities like Tokyo. I live in the countryside of Finland though, so all I have to do to be in a forest is to walk less than 200 meters from our house and presto, there I am, surrounded by trees. So, no, the forest doesn't really do it for me. I might sound negative, but I did like the place. I just really wish there would have been a little bit more of something, to elevate the park beyond my expectations.
We have a Moomin park in Finland too, it's called the Moomin World, but strangely enough, I have never been there. I guess I have to go there someday, just so I can compare the two parks. Whenever it will be safe to travel again.
DAY 11 Wednesday, 13. November
The plan for today was to visit the Tokyo City Keiba, a racecourse to watch some gallop races. The first races wouldn't start until late afternoon, so that left us with almost half a day to do something else.
After breakfast, I headed to Akihabara, while my mom stayed at the hotel. I visited the Kotobukiya shop, and unfortunately enough left the place empty handed. All the stuff I was interested in enough to buy were sold out of course. It was still fun to browse the store and see all the amazing figures they make.
From the Kotobukiya place, I made my way to the Akiba Culture Zone, where I was far more successful with my purchases. I actually bought my most expensive item from this trip here, a DBZ's Cooler statue that cost me 15 000 yen and in addition to that, I bought 4 DBZ doujinshis as well.
After spending enough time in Akihabara, it was time to head back to the hotel and get ready to leave for the racetrack. I wasn't in a rush or anything so I again took some time to photograph some cool stickers and even tried out this plum flavoured Christmas Pepsi I got from a vending machine I came across on the way back to the hotel.
The train ride to the Oi Racecourse was almost an hour long in total and for the last twenty minutes on the way we had to switch trains. I'm amazed we didn't get lost on the way from the train station to the racetrack. I spotted a Naruto bus on our way there!
We got to the racetrack without trouble and as foreigners we were allowed free entrance because we had our passports with us. Like, all we had to do was show that we had our passports with us at the ticket booth, they didn't even take them out of our hands and check inside that we were even the owners of those passports. I'm guessing foreigners get free entry in hopes of attracting more tourist to the place, but I don't think I spotted any other foreigners there besides us.
I was starting to drizzle a little so we went inside the main building, and wouldn't you know it, they had a gift shop right there next to the entrance. It was a really tiny kiosk, but I still managed to find something to buy; a fridge magnet, cute badges and a roll of Washi tape.
Back outside, we walked over to the paddock area where the racehorses are being led around before the races so that the betting people can take a good look at them. I'm so used to scruffy looking and stubby legged ponies I sometimes forget how sleek, tall and beautiful other horse breeds are.
We wandered around the area a little, to see if there was anything other interesting going on, but other than finding a few statues and the racecourse mascots, we went back to watch the races.
I was surprised at first that the races were run in clockwise, but that's just because I'm used to Finland's races that go counter clockwise. Other than that, it all was really similar to how the races in Finland go, except that the horses were a lot faster, of course.
Japanese people must really like betting on horses. It was almost surreal to see the big crowd of people disappear entirely in between the races inside to place their bets, while mom and I were the only ones outside. The masses would return once the race was about to start, and they really liked to yell out loud once the horses were closing on the finish line.
It was a bit cold outside so we went inside and found us a vending machine with hot drinks and a place to sit that had an overview of the paddock area.
We didn't stay to the very end, it was already dark outside and we had a long train ride back. The whole way out of the racetrack was illuminated by these beautiful lights. The train ride back to Asakusabashi wasn't that pleasant unfortunately. The train cart was jam packed with people and it was again really difficult to get off the train once it arrived at our station. Still, I'm surprised we only encountered the rush hour twice in our time in Tokyo. I was expecting it to happen more often.
We were too tired to walk to the supermarket today, so we grabbed something quick to eat from the Seven/Eleven across from our hotel. It was about time I started to think about packing up my stuff, now everything was littered around the hotel room. I threw away any excess boxes and plastics I didn't need, but I still came to the conclusion that I wouldn't be able to fit all my stuff in my luggage. Well, the same thing happened last time, and it was easily resolved by me moving some of the stuff over to mom's luggage. So we would probably just do that this time also.
Now, that most of my stuff was somewhat organized, I could take it easy. We still had two whole days left in Tokyo...
to be continued....
