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Toshimaen amusement park, which opened in 1926
in northern Tokyo, caught the imagination of locals such as
Junko and Hikari Abe, a mother and daughter who work at the park
and met their partners there.
Junko, a 62-year-old park keeper who has worked intermittently
at Toshimaen since the 1970s, said she had assumed it would be
there till the end of her life. "I wanted to enjoy that place
together with my daughter."
Daughter Hikari, 30, started working at the park in 2015. She
had hoped to take family photos there after getting married with
her fiancée, who she also met there.
"It was a spot I had taken for granted because it had been there
from the time I was born, so I can't believe that it will be
gone," she said.
Other visitors remembered family visitors, school outings, and
traditional "coming-of-age" celebrations they had at Toshimaen,
which limited the number of people who were allowed to enter
over the coronavirus crisis.
"It's regrettable and sad, I can't stop wishing for a delayed
closure of the park or for it to survive," said Akiyoshi
Tomizawa, 54.
Tomizawa, who visited the park from the age of four, said he
used to go swimming in the park with friends and take dates
there as a teenager.
Part of the park's charm lay in its variety of attractions,
which included swimming pools, eateries and roller coaster
rides.
Yasuko Tagata, 56, recounted watching fireworks, which are a
nighttime summer tradition in Japan, with friends from the
park's swimming pools.
"Toshimaen is a place where people grew up together," she said.
The new "Harry Potter" theme park is expected to open in 2023,
and will be Japan's first.
(Reporting by Akira Tomoshige; Writing by Daniel Leussink;
Editing by Raissa Kasolowsky)
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