USJ: Back to the Future

Fueled by shrimp po' boy and sweet tea, we headed to the gate at around 2. Tickets were ¥5800 each, or just under $60. I've never been to a theme park as an adult, so I have no idea how much the going rate is, but that seemed reasonable enough.

Once in the park, we wandered through the hordes of Japanese tourists, past the shopping district just past the entrance, and made our way for a ride. As it happened, the first one we came to was Back to the Future. The wait was an estimated 110 minutes, but a glance at one of the big boards displaying wait times for all rides showed it probably wouldn't get much better.

The entire complex was exactly as I remember Orlando's version, down to the TVs displaying the "Institute of Future Technology" logo, with occasional snippets from a reporter or Doc Brown. Ju, Lee, and I passed the time by talking about all kinds of things, ranging from politics to racism to life as a JET.

I noticed quite a few people trying to stare at us without looking like they were staring at us. This included a clump of middle-school-aged girls. I've learned a good bit about group dynamics among Japanese kids, and I've gotten pretty good at picking out the groups that will say something.

Girls, while generally more talkative than boys, nonetheless are usually too skittish to say anything to me when they're by themselves. When they're with a group, however, their bravery dramatically increases. Once that chutzpah reaches a critical mass, one of them becomes the speaker of the group (either by choice or--more often--as a result of losing a Janken match). That person balls up their courage, turns to me, and says something (usually "Hello!").

Boys work the same way, but generally require greater numbers to reach that critical mass. I'm still fine-tuning the numbers, but my calculations indicate shyness among girls is inversely proportional to the fourth power of the group number. The boys, however, are closer to the fifth or sixth power.

Anyway, that group of girls numbered about five, so it wasn't long at all before their spokesperson chirped a "Hello!" and retreated back to the huddle of giggles.

Everything was exactly as I remember from Orlando--except, of course, that everything was in Japanese. (Biff's voice sounds weird in Japanese. I wonder how well "butthead" translates.) The pre-ride briefing, the in-ride video clips, and the ride itself were identical to the ride I loved when I was twelve.