ASAKUSA Underground > Tokyo Disneyland vs. Hana-yashiki
Hana: flower
Yashiki: mansion
Do you want to visit Tokyo Disneyland? It is not very far from Asakusa. Take Ginza line and change the trains at Nihonbashi to take Tozai line for the direction of Nishi-Funabashi. Get off at Urayasu. (Asakusa - Urayasu Tokyo Metro / \230 / about 40 minutes) Then, take the bus for Tokyo Disneyland.
-Bus for Tokyo Disneyland (Caution: Take the other one for Tokyo Disney Sea Resort)
Tokyo Bay Kotsu
Adult: \230
Child: \120
It takes about 25 minutes
One service every 20 minutes
Operating Hours;
To Disneyland: 7:25 ~ 19:02 (on weekdays)
7:40 ~ 18:52 (Saturdays, Sundays, and public holidays)
From Disneyland: 10:00 ~ 22:59 (on weekdays)
9:57 ~ 22:57 (Saturdays, Sundays, and public holidays)
Why do we have a Disneyland in Tokyo? (To be precise, the theme park is in Chiba prefecture.)
"It is a national disgrace!" late Yukio Mishima would cry.
"Why not!" contemporary Manga kids may laugh.
Japanese kids who come and enjoy the park were the sons and daughters or even grandsons and granddaughters of post-war Japanese generations. When you ask those kids to draw a picture of a princess, most of them draw a cute face of a Snow White look-alike, blonde and bleu eyes. One wonders if they know that samurais had their own daughters, some of whom were appropriately addressed princesses, the dark-haired princesses in kimono.
Tokyo Disneyland is all about what the post-war Japanese wanted to be. They wanted to be a part of Beverley Hillbillies and Flipper. If you have time, please walk around in the residential area next to the theme park. You can see "happy" post-war Japanese families living with little porcelain dwarfs guarding Snow Whites. Take some photos there. Then show them to your friends back home and ask them to tell where you have shot these photos.
The Japanese have got what they wanted and lost what they didn't want.
The question is "are they truly happy now?"
If you just want to go to a fun fair, you don't even have to travel that much. Asakusa rejoices in its own mini Disneyland. It is called Hana-yashiki. Some of you might really like this place because it has a melancholic atmosphere of "has been". It is a Corney Island or a South End to the Japanese.
Is the author of this article trying to contrast Disneyland with Hana-yashi? Not at all. On the contrary, the idea behind it is absolutely the same.
Modern-day Asakusa was created to copy Montmartre in Paris, starting way before World War II. All the Japanese intellectuals at that time adored France and what the country symbolised: equality, liberty, and fraternity; beauty, art, and decadence. In its heyday, Asakusa was also what the Japanese wanted to be.
So was Kyoto. So was Nara.
Those two ancient capitals seem typically Japanese, but in fact they were downsized imitations of Chinese capitals in their original concepts.
Man has always wanted to be someone else, it seems. By copying a more dominant and influential culture, one thinks he is better than his countrymen, who are less sophisticated. In the end, he must fail because of the simple and inevitable reason that he cannot be anyone but himself. It is ironical that, while repeating the failures of imitating someone else, he creates his own uniqueness.
Welcome to the one and only Asakusa Hana-yashiki.
-Asakusa Hana-yashiki
zip. 111-0032, 2-28-1 Asakusa, Taito-ku, Tokyo
tel. 03-3842-8780
Open: 10:00 ~ 18:00
Holiday: Tuesdays except public holidays and school holidays
Admission: Adult \900.
12 years old or younger \400
4 years old or younger Free
Free Pass (a pass for all you can ride / Your admission is not included)
Adult \2,200
Between 2 and 12 years old \1,900
Each ride demands you some coupons / tickets (between 2 to 5 tickets for a ride).
A coupon / ticket is \100. If you buy a set of 10 tickets, you will get one free.
Nearest stations:
Tsukuba Express Asakusa station, three minutes' walk.
Tokyo Metro Ginza line Asakusa station, five minutes' walk
Toei Asakusa line Asakusa station, five minutes' walk
Tobu Isezaki line Asakusa station, five minutes'
To find out the exact location, use diddlefinger.
The site is your best guide when you work in Tokyo or travel in Japan.
Tokyo Disneyland vs. Hana-yashiki
Hana: flower
Yashiki: mansion
Do you want to visit Tokyo Disneyland? It is not very far from Asakusa. Take Ginza line and change the trains at Nihonbashi to take Tozai line for the direction of Nishi-Funabashi. Get off at Urayasu. (Asakusa - Urayasu Tokyo Metro / \230 / about 40 minutes) Then, take the bus for Tokyo Disneyland.
-Bus for Tokyo Disneyland (Caution: Take the other one for Tokyo Disney Sea Resort)
Tokyo Bay Kotsu
Adult: \230
Child: \120
It takes about 25 minutes
One service every 20 minutes
Operating Hours;
To Disneyland: 7:25 ~ 19:02 (on weekdays)
7:40 ~ 18:52 (Saturdays, Sundays, and public holidays)
From Disneyland: 10:00 ~ 22:59 (on weekdays)
9:57 ~ 22:57 (Saturdays, Sundays, and public holidays)
Why do we have a Disneyland in Tokyo? (To be precise, the theme park is in Chiba prefecture.)
"It is a national disgrace!" late Yukio Mishima would cry.
"Why not!" contemporary Manga kids may laugh.
Japanese kids who come and enjoy the park were the sons and daughters or even grandsons and granddaughters of post-war Japanese generations. When you ask those kids to draw a picture of a princess, most of them draw a cute face of a Snow White look-alike, blonde and bleu eyes. One wonders if they know that samurais had their own daughters, some of whom were appropriately addressed princesses, the dark-haired princesses in kimono.
Tokyo Disneyland is all about what the post-war Japanese wanted to be. They wanted to be a part of Beverley Hillbillies and Flipper. If you have time, please walk around in the residential area next to the theme park. You can see "happy" post-war Japanese families living with little porcelain dwarfs guarding Snow Whites. Take some photos there. Then show them to your friends back home and ask them to tell where you have shot these photos.
The Japanese have got what they wanted and lost what they didn't want.
The question is "are they truly happy now?"If you just want to go to a fun fair, you don't even have to travel that much. Asakusa rejoices in its own mini Disneyland. It is called Hana-yashiki. Some of you might really like this place because it has a melancholic atmosphere of "has been". It is a Corney Island or a South End to the Japanese.
Is the author of this article trying to contrast Disneyland with Hana-yashi? Not at all. On the contrary, the idea behind it is absolutely the same.
Modern-day Asakusa was created to copy Montmartre in Paris, starting way before World War II. All the Japanese intellectuals at that time adored France and what the country symbolised: equality, liberty, and fraternity; beauty, art, and decadence. In its heyday, Asakusa was also what the Japanese wanted to be.
So was Kyoto. So was Nara.
Those two ancient capitals seem typically Japanese, but in fact they were downsized imitations of Chinese capitals in their original concepts.
Man has always wanted to be someone else, it seems. By copying a more dominant and influential culture, one thinks he is better than his countrymen, who are less sophisticated. In the end, he must fail because of the simple and inevitable reason that he cannot be anyone but himself. It is ironical that, while repeating the failures of imitating someone else, he creates his own uniqueness.
Welcome to the one and only Asakusa Hana-yashiki.
-Asakusa Hana-yashiki
zip. 111-0032, 2-28-1 Asakusa, Taito-ku, Tokyo
tel. 03-3842-8780
Open: 10:00 ~ 18:00
Holiday: Tuesdays except public holidays and school holidays
Admission: Adult \900.
12 years old or younger \400
4 years old or younger Free
Free Pass (a pass for all you can ride / Your admission is not included)
Adult \2,200
Between 2 and 12 years old \1,900
Each ride demands you some coupons / tickets (between 2 to 5 tickets for a ride).
A coupon / ticket is \100. If you buy a set of 10 tickets, you will get one free.
Nearest stations:
Tsukuba Express Asakusa station, three minutes' walk.
Tokyo Metro Ginza line Asakusa station, five minutes' walk
Toei Asakusa line Asakusa station, five minutes' walk
Tobu Isezaki line Asakusa station, five minutes'
To find out the exact location, use diddlefinger.
The site is your best guide when you work in Tokyo or travel in Japan.