Photo/Illutration The tulip-shaped Ferris wheel stands on the rooftop of Kamata Station’s Tokyu Plaza shopping complex in Ota Ward. Originally established in 1968, the wheel, measuring about 13 meters in height, was revised in 2014 and earned itself the name “Ferris Wheel of Happiness.” (Photo by Lisa Vogt)

“Why are you soooo boring and always say no to my pleas to do fun things together?” I thought as a child, but never said out loud to my mother. 

I was a late child, and compared to my friends’ mothers, mine was much older, and combined with her reserved personality, I have no memories of sharing department store rooftop joyrides that were once all the rage.

In 1903, Shirokiya in Tokyo (today Coredo Nihonbashi) established Japan’s first rooftop amusement park with a wooden horse and seesaw.

Following its success, Mitsukoshi, Matsuya, Daimaru, Matsuzakaya, Isetan and other department stores around the country built rooftop attractions that included miniature trains, boat rides, telescope platforms, driving machines and all sorts of electric and human-powered people-pleasers.

Shows, concerts, beauty pageants and supercar exhibitions were held on rooftops, and whole families would spend the day at a department store. From there, they would head one floor down to enjoy a meal at the large “okonomi shokudo,” a department store cafeteria that offered a variety of Japanese, Western and Chinese cuisine.

People would then work their way down the department store, shopping. This so-called “shower effect” (as opposed to the fountain effect) strategy worked brilliantly.

How times have changed. Today, with the decrease in the number of children due to the declining birthrate, suburban shopping malls, mega-theme parks, scorching summer heat and kids’ preference for computer games over a ride in an animal-shaped gondola or big coffee cup, rooftop amusement parks, once the heart of family entertainment, cannot compete.

Only one rooftop Ferris wheel in Tokyo is still in operation. The kawaii rainbow-colored nine-carriage wheel sits atop Tokyu Plaza Kamata, connected to the JR station. While it’s not technically a department store, the rooftop amusement park, “Plaza Land,” is the closest thing left.

The original Ferris wheel was installed in 1968 and was a landmark in the area. In 2014, the park was scheduled to be no more but was saved by local support. The present incarnation is named “Ferris Wheel of Happiness.”

When I visited, only a few people were sitting on chairs eating bento lunch boxes brought from home. Just as when I was little, I got on the Ferris wheel alone. I may have been the only customer that day. As the wheel turned, I savored the present moment.

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This article by Lisa Vogt, a Washington-born and Tokyo-based photographer, originally appeared in the June 16 issue of Asahi Weekly. It is part of the series "Lisa’s Things, Places and Events," which depicts various parts of the country through the perspective of the author, a professor at Aoyama Gakuin University.

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