Truth is, it's never going to happen. This is one time Canada's timidity and sloth might save some people. Can you imagine the money it would take? At least the Dubai one and the failed Tokyo-'burb one were: not as far from downtown, on expressways and transit. Yet my insinuation remains: when there is financial-froth for this kind of idiocy, get your money out, and fast.
So you tell me, is this like showrooms for condos that won't ever get built? Some clever form of money-laundering or interest-harvesting?
I actually went snowboarding in that thing in Funabashi.
ReplyDeleteHa. How lame was it?
DeleteAren't you guys fairly well provided for with real ski slopes? I was lead to believe it was kind of a big thing round that way...
ReplyDeleteNot so much as you may think. We do have summer. Nothing like Japan, but more so than those foggy islands in the North Atlantic. Toronto's ski season is four months at best: shorter than elsewhere thanks to the Great Lakes. Hills near Toronto are quite small. In fact, we tend to ski off escarpments. I do not ski weekends in Ontario. I save it up for week long ski-trips to Quebec or the west of Canada.
DeleteIn the unlikely alignment of events that would get this built, singularly idiotic Ontarians could ski year-round for even more money each day, on a hill even smaller, with canned air. Hmmm. Knowing Ontario as I do, this is right up their alley.
I remember looking reading the newspaper in high school and some company was proposing one of these type of places in Orange County, California. It would have been a few miles away from Disneyland. It looked bad ass on paper. Snowboard park, skate park, wind tunnel for sky divers, ice rink, and a couple of other things to do. I doubt it would have made enough money to justify its building.
ReplyDeleteThat place sucked. It was a novelty and they charged you through the ass on everything like at an airport after check in. Even water was 40% more expensive than at vending machines across the lot.
ReplyDeleteMost everyone was 1st timers or looked like it anyway.
Now when is that giant indoor urine pool gonna close?
I was here in the mid-nineties when it was open, but never went.
DeleteHa. Remember when drinks from vending machines on train platforms cost more than outside the stations? Guess even the Japanese were not sheeple enough for that business model.
Oh yeah. I went to a fucking 'imoarai' just once (http://blog-imgs-38.fc2.com/r/u/n/runcazzrun/imoarai.jpg).
DeleteGlad girls here look far better in bikini than at home, but not worth the claustrophobic panic, and convincing myself that the bacteria count is low because of levels of chlorine matching the 'Western Front'.
I'm pretty sure there's one or two more of those still around, but maybe just outside Tokyo in Saitama and Kanagawa. I don't ski or snowboard, but used to play ice hockey all the time. After moving to Japan, I went to a couple of different rinks (brought my skates with me) and it was always like Shinjuku Station on ice. People being stupid and careless as usual, but in more dangerous environment. So, if I did ski, I imagine I'd never go to one of those indoor places in Japan...
ReplyDelete