Photo/Illutration The Corkscrew roller coaster is now at the Yagiyama Benyland theme park in Sendai's Taihaku Ward, relocated from the Toshimaen amusement park in Tokyo. (Provided by Yagiyama Benyland)

Storied Tokyo amusement park Toshimaen may have shut down for good, but its rides and attractions live on at theme parks all over Japan, which acquired them after they were sold off.

Toshimaen, which pioneered large leisure facilities in Japan, ended its 94-year run in Tokyo's Nerima Ward in August 2020.

In March this year, Sendai's Yagiyama Benyland welcomed Toshimaen's yellow-painted Corkscrew roller coaster, a double-looped U.S.-made thrill ride.

Yagiyama Benyland had introduced a Corkscrew in 1980. But Toshimaen's offers better safety and usability because it was updated in the early 1990s.

"It would be such a waste if it were disposed of. We also wanted to take over the legendary ride from Toshimaen," said Yagiyama Benyland's director, Mitsuyuki Yagi, explaining why he decided to buy the attraction.

Benyland's first Corkscrew has since found a new home in an amusement park in Hokkaido.

Part of Toshimaen's large wooden Trick Maze, used at the park for four years before it shut down, was back in action at the Lina World amusement park in Kaminoyama, Yamagata Prefecture, on April 29.

The park plans to rename it and said it will ask the public for suggestions.

Because the attraction is still new, it was split into two parts, with one half relocated to Lina World and the other half to the Nasukogen Rindoko Family Bokujo park in Tochigi Prefecture.

The maze at Lina World runs 12 meters wide, 14 meters deep and 9 meters high.

Getting out of it, a park representative said, "requires one's wits and energy. Even adults should be prepared to spend 20 minutes to get to the goal at the top." 

The park also transferred ownership of three attractions to the Hakkeijima Sea Paradise aquarium in Yokohama, according to Seibu Railway Co., a subsidiary of which ran Toshimaen.

The company added that it is considering finding other park operators willing to take over Toshimaen's iconic El Dorado carousel, one of the world's oldest merry-go-rounds, and its most popular attraction, the Cyclone roller coaster, and other facilities.

(This article was written by Hideaki Ishibashi, a senior staff writer, and Norikazu Miyake.)

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