Hey Hive!
I'm currently recounting our anniversary trip to Tokyo back in Feb 2023! It'd been at least 3 years since we visited Tokyo and the last time was pre-covid so we decided to go back and find some new places to explore while revisiting our favourite hot-spots.
Last week, we continued our adventure through Joypolis, a three storey high-tech indoor theme park with lots of interesting rides that incorporate a digital element like AR or VR. It's owned by SEGA so of course their mascot will be Sonic the Hedgehog.
They also have a quite a few interesting rides like a standing platform that swings you on a half-pipe and this roller coaster that goes upside down around the main stage.
We went for the special Attack on Titan attraction that is a walking experience through different scenes in the anime. Unfortunately I couldn't take photos inside but it was really cool!
We also saw quite a few spooky haunted house attractions that probably have some VR component which probably makes it even scarier. But just the outside was really terrifying to me.
6 Feb 2023. Monday.
Anyway let's continue because there was one other very special attraction that we were really excited for!
It seems the third floor was for the special attractions with IPs like the Attack on Titan one but they also had a special Ace Attorney section!
We're both big fans of the Ace Attorney series of video games, which is a visual novel franchise where you play as a lawyer and solve cases to defend your clients!
The curious thing about this is Ace Attorney is developed by CAPCOM but this was in a SEGA theme park. I guess it's good since there's no CAPCOM theme park and this shows they have some form of collaboration despite technically being rivals. It's kind of like Phoenix and Miles themselves from the games, who are also the two statues I'm standing next to above.
We didn't really know what the exhibit was about but were just super excited to be able to see this in person.
But apparently you can actually play the game in real life right here! They even built the set to look like the courtroom in-game which is super cool.
I really loved these posters on the wall, and the ink drawings underneath that was probably done by the official artists I'm assuming. I wish they had the posters on sale because I would totally have bought them.
Turns out these posters were for actual cases you can play here exclusively in Joypolis! That's what the exhibition was about; you can actually play the game irl but it was kind of difficult for us since we didn't understand Japanese all that well.
Here are the instructions that the staff was showing, that we couldn't even read:
And here it is roughly translated:
But the idea was we basically played the role of Phoenix Wright just like in the games, going around investigating and then solving the case and defending our client in court!
I think there were three different cases you could get but the staff will randomly assign you a case to play. You would be given a special notebook, called the Court Record that you could take home and also write notes from the case in.
It was a really cool idea and even though we couldn't read or understand anything we still tried to do it anyway. We actually got to enter into Phoenix's office, initially known as Fey and Co. Law Offices, which was so surreal! It was like we stepped into a scene from the game itself.
They even had his iconic blue suit up on display, and behind there was Charley the plant!
They even had his special law badge pinned to the lapel which is a big icon in the game as well. I really liked the chibi plush keychains and wish they had those on sale too!
The monitor on the desk was playing a video on loop that had the scenes from the game and we could hear the music as well which was so cool!
I think the video was playing the introduction to each of the case, depending on which one you chose. You would slide your book into the slot of the machine and the intro for that specific case would play, like this:
So after viewing the intro it was time to head out and interview all the people involved the case. We were supposed to use these machines to interact with the characters and you'd slide your book in so the machine will know which case you're working on.
Characters would appear on the screen for you to talk to about the case and you'd hear them out to get their account. After collecting all the testimonials and evidence you would go to court and fight it out for your client!
Unfortunately everything was in Japanese and we actually tried really hard to play it by using Google Translate but it was really rough. The translation wasn't the best and it was hard to keep doing it for basically every screen of dialogue. That on top of all the different characters made it nearly impossible.
It looked like there were different machines for going to court but I think it was basically the same. Your progress is saved with your book or something apparently, and it's quite a wonder how they managed that. It was like you were physically carrying a save file of your game.
After what felt like hours of us trying our best to make sense of the Japanese dialogue we kind of just gave up. I was exhausted from standing so long trying to solve it. We just watched other people play and have fun, wishing we could do it too.
It was such a shame that we couldn't get to play it legitimately, but I guess it makes sense that they wouldn't have translations for this since it's only here in Japan at this theme park. Quite unfortunate though.
But honestly I was happy enough just looking at the statues and sets that they had set up. If only they had some special merchandise on sale too..
After that we were so exhausted physically and mentally so we went to rest at the cafe for a bit, enjoying the view of the early sunset in Odaiba.
After a break we went around Joypolis one more time to make sure we saw everything. Level 2 had a Transformers ride in these big round machines that would spin and rotate.
There were also some arcade machines and a screen at the back that looked like a sports game.
You could also play the Sonic Olympics games irl but I think this was different compared to the ones we've seen in arcades. They didn't allow shoes on this one.
There was also a laser tag place with VR headsets:
And another ride with the circular machines that looked like it would make you very dizzy.
Of course since this was SEGA they also had a proper arcade with the regular crane machines.
The Sonic Carnival also had these special machines with the classic Sonic characters on them!
There wasn't much else that interested us and by now we were absolutely exhausted so after a quick walkaround we left to go get some real food. The park would be closing soon after that anyway.
It was way past lunch and we hadn't eaten yet so I was lowkey quite hangry. We ended up walking to the nearest Yoshinoya (which wasn't too near actually) to get a nice delicious beef bowl.
Yoshinoya specialises in marinaded beef bowls and I was honestly starving so I could've eaten anything on the menu.
I think I got one of the normal set meals for 598jpy that came with their signature beef, rice, salad and miso soup.
Sean decided to try their version of the Sukiyaki bowl which came with beef, vegetables, udon and a raw egg along with rice.
It tasted pretty good, but I think I was too hungry to even contemplate whether it was better or worse than other gyudon chains like Matsuya or Sukiya. Of all the times we've visited Japan we've actually never tried Yoshinoya before so this was a first.
It honestly was pretty good though and for the price it was really reasonable. This particular outlet was quite small and quite out of the way from the station but there was nothing else affordable around.
This neighbourhood was quite unique though but I think I'll share it next time. Thanks so much for reading!
To find out more about me, check out my intro post here!
Check out my previous post in this series!
TacoCat’s Travels #279 (Tokyo): Surviving Attack on Titan?
