This is the ride that infamously features "Japanese Jesus." Messed. Up.
But as this completely unstaged photo reveals, it's the audio portion of the experience – delivered so masterfully by the stereo headphones each rider gets to wear – that pushes this dark ride into the exosphere of awesome. The surround-sound effects add an incredibly immersive layer of sensory stimulation. And by putting you into your own private "audio bubble," the headphones isolate you from the other riders; there's no distractive chit-chat going on at all. Brilliance on a budget.
We rode other dark rides that also had headphone-transmitted audio, and they were all great. This spook house, though, was one of the most memorable rides of the entire trip. I will return to Hirakata many times just to do it again.
On the way out, many of us discovered this store, Doubutsu Hug Hug Town, ha. And speaking of hugging...
Thanks to this park ad we saw on the way out, "hugging the pink dolphin" is now my go-to euphemism for a particular solo recreational activity.
Hirakata was a perfect half-day stop, which left us the afternoon to take a train to Kyoto and go do some unexpectedly extraordinary sightseeing.
It was suggested that we visit Fushimi Inari-taisha, which turned out to be the most extraordinary place of worship I have ever encountered.
This mountainside shrine is dedicated to Inari, the god (or goddess, depending on your source) of rice and sake, which makes Inari highly worthy of reverence, by my reckon.
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