Where is this water park?

General Questions
#1

For years now this picture has been circulating on the internet of a waterpark that is packed with people and features the ironic caption:

“Welcome to breathtaking Tokyo Water Park where you can wash away the pressure and stress of the overcrowded city and relax with your friends in the soothing enjoyment of sun, fun and splashing.”

It’s implied that the caption was originally included in advertising material for the waterpark.

My dad recently forwarded me a page full of pictures with the theme of overpopulation, and this picture was among them. I finally decided to try tracking down that waterpark - and I can’t. For starters, “Tokyo Water Park” doesn’t appear to exist. But a Google search turned up this list of water parks in Japan, so I searched Google Maps (in satellite mode) for each park name, and none of the parks I found resembles the photo at my first link (rectangular pool with channels parallel to long sides, with what appears to be a grandstand and/or golf driving range behind it).

Does the park featured in that photo actually exist? If so, is it in Japan? Or is that photo a bullshit composite?

#2

A bit of searching turns up references to (and pictures of) the Tokyo Summerland Wave Pool. Even videos. And it really does seem to be that crowded:

http://paradoxoff.com/tokyo-summerland-wave-pool.html

http://www.yourdailymedia.com/video/watch/7786/

http://images.search.yahoo.com/search/images?_adv_prop=image&fr=yfp-t-701&va=Tokyo+Summerland+Wave+Pool

#3

The crowding is just insane.

Also, I notice that a lot of people are using ring buoys. I didn’t see that in wave pools I’ve been in. Is learning to swin less common in Japan than in western countries?

#4

At Water Country in Portsmouth New Hampshire they use (and encourage) Ring Buoys ( = “tubes”) . And when the waves start up, people rush into the water to experience it – it looks almost as crowded as Tokyo Summerland, at least in the Wafve Pool.

#5

I have seen the photo in the OP before as well and it might very well be from Japan (or possibly China). It is not, though, by the look of it the same place as the one in CalMeacham’s pictures.

#6

I’ve never seen the picture before, but the OP’s picture appears in my first link for Tokyo Summerland Wave Pool (it’s at the bottom), although I admit the other pictures and video don’t quite look the same. Might be a different vantage point, though.

#7

Tokyo is so crowded, they have people whos job it is to pack you into subway cars by shoving as hard as they can so the doors can close. That waterpark doesn’t suprise me at all.

I’ve got a picture of a waterslide in Japan during the Tsunami, with cars and debris all around it getting washed away, titled “Fucked-up Waterslide”. :smiley:

:eek:

Too early?

#8

No doubt about it; Japanese porn is really wierd.

#9


Tokyo Summerland Water Park doesn’t resemble the OP’s photo. It could have been rebuilt or reconfigured since the photo was taken though.

#10

That satellite photo doesn’t look like the other pictures labeled “Tokypo Summerland Wave Pool”, either. Even the ones that don’t obviously look like the OP photo.

#11

The majority of the ones you linked to looked to be interior shots, possibly taken inside the large building to the east? No idea to be honest, just guessing.

#12

It’s an older image (August 1975) of the “Korakuen Pool” that used to be in central Tokyo.

I noticed the grandstand and the Ferris wheel in the background. So immediately I thought it’s a seasonal setup in a sports-related grounds. I took a WAG and looked up the the old “Korakuen” complex and… voilà! I was right.

The grandstand was for the “Korakuen Velodrome” which closed for keirin (cycling racing) in 1972. Next to it is the old “Korakuen Stadium” which closed in 1987. It is the current site of Tokyo Dome and Korakuen the amusement complex.
Different pic of Korakuen Pool

Wikipedia page (English) with overhead shot

Google Maps overhead shot of current site

#13

That first picture looks like the OP’s/ I suspect the one I linked to may have misidentified the shot.