"Legal Screaming & Flying Through the Air"

Aside from being a bit nervous about riding roller coasters when my age was in single digits, I've always liked riding them; going up high, looking around quickly before flying diagonally through the air, etc. - and since coming to Tokyo - doing a bit of yelling from time to time. Where else can you let loose with a full-force yell/scream? There have been a few times I would have liked to have done so on the train system, but... you can't do that (for obvious reasons), so I haven't. That leaves the amusement park. Exhibit A, the Cyclone Roller Coaster at 1990 Toshimaen:

I think it's still there, but not as many people go to amusement parks as when I took the video, so the atmosphere is probably a bit different now.

Yelling on roller coasters is an old tradition, but for competitive yelling, the "Flying Pirates" ride is (or was?) better, as one group of people faces another and takes turns yelling or cheering at the other. A September 1990 example, also from Toshimaen:

Toshimaen is nice in that there a lot of trees in it, so it's pleasant to just be there on a nice day (come to think of it, the "park" in "amusement park" is very appropriate in this case). I haven't been there for quite a while, but I visited the Seibu-en Amusement Park last year, and was surprised to see very few people there... on a national holiday! They used to be crowded all the time, and really packed on national holidays. That may be why a lot of people gave up on going to them - when you have to wait in line for over an hour for a single ride, it detracts quite a lot from the day, and then, when thinking of going somewhere in the future, those long lines are remembered and a different destination chosen (if any destination is chosen at all - there is more to do at home now).

So, this may be a good time to go to Toshimaen actually. I'm thinking of going myself after seeing these videos of fun I had in 1990....

Lyle (Hiroshi) Saxon
http://www5d.biglobe.ne.jp/~LLLtrs/
http://uk.youtube.com/lylehsaxon