lina219

I am planning for another trip to Japan to coincide with Ultraman Festival.

We'll be travelling from Arao (for Ultraman Land) and moving up until we reach Tokyo (for Ultrafes). I am told that there is an Ultraman Stadium in Ishikawaken Nomigunteraimachi. Anyone has any idea where this place is? and what is the best option to reach the place if I travel from Hakata Station?

Thanks in advance!

mrwunrfl

Ishikawa is a prefecture (ken) in western central Japan. Kanazawa is in Ishikawa-ken. That *machi location sounds like a part of a city, like the Hill District in Pittsburgh.

From Hakata you'd take the shinkansen to Shin Osaka and then a Limited Express Thunderbird to Ishikawa-ken. That's the general direction, anyway.

emd

No responsive info from me, sorry, but you are like me, planning your second trip as soon as you get back from the first one! I just got back from the second trip and am planning the third one already.

Just fyi, there are quite a few Ultraman fans at www.japan-guide.com forum also. I got a lot of good anime and character (Gundam) info for the trip w/my son from there.

mrwunrfl

I think it is the town of Terai, a 6-minute local train ride from Komatsu

mrwunrfl

http://www.ultraman-stadium.jp/

lina219

hi emd! welcome back... I did post some Qs in Japan Guide.com but nothing conclusive for the Ultraman Stadium queries...

mrwunrfl, thanks so much... your post does helps a lot.

kappa

Ishikawaken Nomigunteraimachi

Just a tip to help determining the location, Nomigunteraimachi should be separated as Nomi-gun, Tera-machi. "gun"is another unit to describe a district. So Tera-machi is in Nomi-gun which is in Ishikawa-ken. Usually districts ending with gun are considered to be rather rural areas than urban. e.g. shi (usually translated as city) as in kanazawa-shi is supposed to be urban.

kappa

Ok, I entered in the site. According to it,

1. that's actually Nomi-shi (city) and not gun. It's possible it USED to be Nomi-gun. That happens.
2.Acces from Kanazawa JR station, take a Hokuriku-Tetsudo Bus, Direction Terai-Yakuba (town hall), get off at Tedori-Gawa-Bashi (Tedori River Bridge). It does not say how long the bus ride is.
3.Admission free (things to rent inside - costumes ?)
4. Wednesday closed
5. The place is also called Tedori Fish Land.

KimJapan

OK...Tedori Fish Land is not a place you'd want to go out of your way to visit. Really. It's nothing special. When mentioned, people laugh - honestly. It's a place kids go in summer sometimes. If you are a huge Ultraman fan, then you might want to have a look, but, I don't know...up to you I guess. It's a lot of time to spend to see a stadium.

From Kanazawa Station, the bus will take you about an hour to get there. The buses to Terai are not frequent.

If you do go to Terai, there are many good Kutani-yaki (pottery/ceramic) shops and factories, as well as a museum. Not really well served by bus, taxi might be the only way to get around if you wanted to do a Kutani-yaki "tour" of the area as well...unless you rented a car.

lina219

mrwunfrl, kappa & kimjapan, thanks. your advices are precious.

kimjapan, husband & son are huge fans of Ultraman. (son actually were more excited about his Ultraman Club visits than our Disneyland & Sea visits). We'll have to reconsider whether to visit Ultraman Stadium or not, after taking account we do have to go out of our way to get there.

thanks everyone!

emd

I took a look at that site. It looks a bit like the Bandai Museum in Tokyo that my son and I went to one day last spring. Only a fan can understand the appeal (and the fantasy they can keep very alive in these type of theme places). It was very cool and i wouldn't have missed it, even if I had had to travel further to see it w/my son (14 yr old at the time).

mrwunrfl

Thanks for the explanation of the name, kappa. So, I did figure it out. Is the -gun a subunit of a prefecture? Is it political or geographical? But it sounds like a -gun is a rural area until it becomes urban and then it is a -shi. So, now I understand that when I went to Ise Shi I went to Ise city (and "Shi" was used to distinguish the city name from the shrine at Ise or the Ise bay). Then I don't understand why Gifu city is not referred to as Gifu Shi to distinguish it from the prefecture name.

lina219

actually, I got the name through search function of the area postcode. I vaguely had an idea of the place's name thru questions posted at JapanGuide and an Ultraman fan website.

emd, you are correct. my husband were already raring to go even though at first we have no idea where it is located. I am just afraid that both he & son might get disappointed, but I think we'll end up at Ultraman Stadium anyway...

kappa

Kim said "OK...Tedori Fish Land is not a place you'd want to go out of your way to visit. Really.."

I understand the sentiment and tend to agree. That must be a very local attraction in Ishakawa-ken and not well known to other parts of Japan. Being Ultraman fan, you husband and kid would enjoy but I hope YOU will not to bored, supposing you will make it. Hakata to Ishiakwa is a looong way. You would not do it even for an over night trip. By train it seems too complicated and I don't know if flying is convenient either. It will up to how eager your family is about Ultraman things. WONDER why they built this Ultraman Land in such a country side (I'm assuming, the area may not be that rural.). Your husband must be young to be a Ultraman fan?

Mrwunrfl ,

> Is the -gun a subunit of a prefecture?

It is, exactly. Inside Ken (Prefecture), it can usually be subunits such as Shi or Gun.

> Is it political or geographical?

It is Political (Governmental).

> Then I don't understand why Gifu city is not referred to as Gifu Shi to distinguish it from the prefecture name.

To make it clear, one would call either Gigu-ken (pref.) or Gigu-shi (city) but some times you might say just Gifu to describe a historical gifu area generally. That naming existed before the government separated the area into ken - shi - gun, etc, I supopose.

kappa

http://www.tedori.co.jp/park/facilities/

http://www.tedori.co.jp/park/ultraman/index.html

Take a look at above page. That's the site of Tedori Fish Land. Ultraman Stadium is a part of it. Do these photos make you want to go there more (or less ?)

KimJapan

The Ultraman Stadium is a part of Tedori Fish Land. There's shopping, a game center, some old rides, food...reminds of when I went to the Expo in Springfield, MA when I was an elementary school school student. The stadium is probably its biggest draw these days...they've also added a pet shop attraction though, so they still seem to be trying to attract visitors. Not sure how successful the place is these days.

KimJapan

Actually, the photos look nicer than the real thing. Honestly, I think it would be a shame to spend all that time and energy getting there when there is so much else to enjoy.

lina219

kappa,

my husband is 30. used to be a collector, but stopped when we got married. renewed his interest when son starts showing his ability in naming all the Ultraman figures. (I still have problem differentiating Gaia & Tiga)

It seems similar to Ultraman Club (maybe a tad bigger), which we did enjoy going to (we went to Ultraman Club 3 times). Have to show the pics to husband for him to decide. Thanks for the links!

lina219

from the pics, it seems that the park is similar to our neighbourhood funfair. (the one where u buy $1 token for a ride) - used to enjoy it when i was little, ages ago

mrwunrfl

Isn't Terai closer to Komatsu than to Kanazawa? And Komatsu is a bit closer to Hakata, but it is still a 5.5 hour trip by train from Hakata to Terai via Komatsu.

ANA has nonstops from Fukuoka to Komatsu. The Fukuoka airport is very easy to get to by a nice subway from Hakata station.