The Horse Park

On Saturday our Sponsors and compulsory friends “The M’s”, along with another couple “The F’s” (who are also new in town) took us on our first Japanese adventure. (Not counting dinner on Thursday night to Cheese Roll House.)

The M’s said we were going to “The Horse Park”. A place they’d been meaning to visit which came highly recommended by friends. Evidently, “The Horse Park” contained not only horses, but a large slide. Not knowing what to expect, (besides horses and a large slide) we crammed ourselves into two respective cars (they make ‘em small over here) and set off.
When we arrived, we found a fountain area decorated with streamers (which made me feel happy because obviously the Japanese people like a good party as much as I do.)


After walking through the main building which contained an eating establishment offering ice cream (immediately catalogued for future reference) we encountered a large slide. A horse slide? Possibly. Hard to say. But definitely a slide. And slide we did. (You might say we slid.)
Next, we walked to another much larger playground area, where some FREAKIN' ADORABLE little Japanese girls were chattin’ me up. (Me: "HI!!! MY NAME IS EMILY! WHAT'S YOUR NAME?!?!" It always helps to talk extra loud.)...

...and then, eventually up the hill to a fenced area which contained the “horse” part of the “horse park”. i.e. Horses. But not just horses, PONIES!!! The dream of every rainbow-and-horse-loving little girl on the planet. (I must admit they were pretty darn cute...for things with excessive hair...)

And then I stopped at the bathroom.
And my jaw dropped.
Because I was under the (VERY WRONG) impression that they only had “squatters” in China. Evidently not. Don't worry, I found the handicapped stall which accommodates not just the handicapped, but the American visitor as well. (Some may claim we’re one and the same.)


(Evidently this is one of the nicest bathrooms ever seen by the M's because it has not only toilet paper, but the handicap (American) stall, and hand soap as well! (Janeen just told me some disturbing information about squatters, but I'll save it for another post.))

And finally, the last surprise: The REAL big slide. Not the strange animal-esque thing in the front. No, THIS was the big slide they were talking about! A ginormous serpentine cage traveling down the mountainside. With no supervision, and no monitoring by park employees, we all agreed this was DEFINITELY not something that would fly in the states. But, of course, it DID have these safety posters!

I love Japan already!