Entries this day: Bounce Kora_kuen

Bounce

2:46pm JST Thursday 1 April 2004

Takako and I are at Korakoen, aka Tokyo Dome City. We've ridden Thunder Dolphin, Geo Panic, Zombie Paradise, Bikkiri House (sp), and Spinning Coaster. We ate and I fell asleep for a bit while she decided what she wanted to do next. Her choice: shopping at the mall in which this park is semi-embedded.

We walked over that direction, and I saw something that made (and will make) me leap for joy: bunjee trampolines.

They let us flip; I plan to do double backs, maybe double fronts, and maybe triple backs.

3:15pm

Oh yes.

Takako showed up just in time to get my bouncing on video. Fabutastic. While being strapped on to the bungees, the guy was all, "wakkawakka" in Japanese and I was like "err?" and he goes, "do you speak English?" "Yeah; do you speak English?" I asked, because obviously he did; his intonation and such was excellent.

He goes, "do you want to bounce high?"

"Yeah; I wanna do double backs and double fronts."

He was all something like, "sounds good; I want to see them." (*)

I asked his name, and he might have said Masaru, but I honestly don't remember now.

(*) this comment, I realize now, could have been "yeah right, jack; that's what everyone wants to do."

Once I was strapped in, he pulled on the bungees to get me bouncing. I didn't have much contact with the trampoline; my feet would barely skip on it when I was full force down on the bungees. When he bounced me, he was flying way up in the air with me, which kinda surprised me. I was like, "you comin' with me?"

We were apparently noteworthy; I could hear the crowd oohing when we started to fly. I wasn't any higher than the other jumpers had been; I imagine they were impressed with his unusual bounce height.

I tried a double back, and got about 1.75 back and my glasses hit the tramp when I decelerated. I regained my balance as I saw someone grabbing my glasses off the tramp.

I was surprised by how difficult it was to do double backs. I tried to do some more; or maybe I tried some singles next, and got them down well. Blah blah blah; the video will show all. I'll post it in all its sideways glory first, and maybe someone can rotate it for me.

I was to get two double fronts in a row. Relatively clean ones at that. I didn't even try triple anythings.

As it became apparent I wouldn't be able to achieve more than what I had already (I was pooped), I said, "¤ª¤ï¤ê" to Masaru. He let me down and asked if I was alright. I go "that was *awesome*."

"you were awesome."

"Thanks mate."

awesome.

I had to maintain care so that I wouldn't collapse/crumple off the trampoline after the exersion.

- - - -

After some reflection, I realize why flipping was so flipping difficult. The bungees were accelerating me up, so I had to lift my legs against that acceleration to rotate. I wasn't weightless like I normally am on trampolines.

Yayayayay Takako for getting the video. Best ever!

3:33pm

My body is just now recovered from the aerobics of that event.

Kora kuen

7:29pm JST Thursday 1 April 2004

¤¿¤«¤³ and I have been having big fun at Tokyo Dome City. We've ridden

• Thunder Dolphin three times (in an attempt to sit in the front seat (we're not allowed to choose coaster seats here in Japan) so I can get a good video from on the train. I got a video the first time we rode, but 50% of the screen is taken up by the seats in front of us because I wasn't willing to hold the camera way up high. ("Hey; look at me; I've got a camera!"))

• Geo Panic (small indoor coaster) twice

• Wonder Drop (short outdoor flume ride) once

• The Big O (big hollow ferris wheel with Thunder Dolphin coasting through it) once

• Sky Trip (human power tandem bicycle cars (I mimicked what I hear on trains when they stop at stations, and called it Jitensha Densha (which rhymes for "Bicycle train") much to my own amusement, and I hope Takako's) with two seats side by side) once

• Tower Hacker (mid-sized drop tower) once

• Sky Flower (slow drop parachute tower) once

• Linear Gale (back and forth hanging ride on a vertical U shaped track (weak ride, but okay if there's no line)) once

• Zombie Paradise (slow cars through a kiddie haunted house) twice

• Hyper Illusion (movie on curved screen with moving chairs (weak)) once

• Spinning Coaster (mouse-trap coaster with 4-seat cars that rotate as momentum dictates) once

12:04am

After all that riding, we headed across the street to Jonathan's, which I describe as an upscale Denny's. A cool thing about this restaurant is the entrance to Jonathan's has an entrance to 7-11 in it. Like go in the Jonathan's door, and then go into the 7-11 door. Or go up the stairs to Jonathan's.