The Steepest Roller Coaster in the World

 

Welcome to Takabisha, the steepest roller coaster in the world:

3,300 feet long, 141 feet tall, 62 m.p.h., 121 degrees over vertical drop — and two minutes and 40 seconds of pure thrill and exhilaration.

As I approached the two-month mark of my semester abroad in Japan, mid-term exams and projects arrived. As a breather, right before mid-terms, a group of friends and I decided to head down to Fuji-Q Highland (“Fujikyu Hairando”), one of the most amazing and thrilling amusement parks. Famous for its world-record roller coasters and attractions, it is definitely an awesome place to go and have fun with friends on a day or weekend trip. As a thrill-seeker and roller coaster enthusiast, I have had a longstanding dream to go to this amusement park. I was extremely excited to go to Fuji-Q and ride Takabisha as they have been on my bucket list for quite some time.

There were quite a few interesting things that I noticed when I went to the amusement park, so I wanted to share some of my observations and tips for going to Fuji-Q Highland. Hopefully, if you ever plan on making your way over to the town of Fujiyoshida, near the base of Mount Fuji, these tidbits will be a little helpful to you.

Golden Week Mini Adventures

Golden Week is a cluster of Japanese holidays occurring from the end of April until early May that gives both workers and students more or less one week of freedom from the stressors of everyday life. During Golden Week, many people try to travel both within and outside the country and, with Emperor Akihito’s abdication of the throne and the welcoming of the Reiwa era, Japan was especially crowded and hectic.

Since there were more people coming into and out of the country during this time, the shinkansen or “bullet train,” planes, as well as hotels and other accommodations, (especially onsens) were full. Initially, I had wanted to take a trip south and go hit Kyoto, Nagoya and Osaka but, after looking at the prices and availability, I knew that it just wouldn’t work out, so those plans are postponed for the time being. To save my wallet a bit, I decided to just do some small day trips around the Tokyo area in the hopes that they would be less crowded than other areas. They weren’t — but I still had a lot of fun.

Life in Japan

It is really just dawning on me that I’ve nearly been in Japan for a whole month now. It almost feels surreal. So many things have happened, and I’ve made so many memories (both good and bad) in such a short time span. As stated in my first blogpost, the first week in Japan was pretty close to being a total disaster and was really rough on me in various ways. I really struggled a lot more than I was comfortable with in the beginning, but I wanted to keep moving forward so as to not ruin my new life adventure.

It’s been a slow progression, but everything is starting to get better, easier, more comfortable and fun.

Off to a Rough Start But Getting There

Since as long as I can remember, it has always been a dream of mine to travel and explore Japan and, earlier this year, I found out that that dream of mine was soon to become a reality.

When I found out that I got accepted to study abroad in Japan for a semester, I was ecstatic. I could not contain my overflowing emotions of pure excitement and happiness. I had so many hopes and expectations for my study abroad experience in Japan, and I spent countless nights dreaming of the endless memories and adventures I would have in Japan. I thought that everything would be smooth sailing once I made my flight and landed in Japan. “The beginning of a new journey,” is what I thought when I stepped off that plane. And while it certainly is the start of a new journey in my life … it didn’t start off on the right foot.