My 9-year-old daughter had never been to Tokyo Disneyland, maybe because I don’t care too much about that place.
Nor has she been to Universal Studios Japan
in Osaka, where she could meet Minions and other characters.
But finally, she made a grand debut at
Disneyland the other day.
I had some work to do near Disneyland over
the weekend, stuck in a conference room all day long, while the daughter and
her family had a fantastic day at the park.
As I joined them in the evening after work,
the daughter looked completely hooked on this land of dreams, wearing the Stitch headband and all.
It had been 20 years since the last time I
visited Tokyo Disneyland, and her joyful look made me want to see what the
place looked like now. So I canceled my work the next day and went out with
them.
But all I did was going to gift shops
around the park and riding a monorail going around the resort.
Still, I could see ideas and tools to
attract and engage people everywhere. Just amazing.
And these innovative tools are there to attract
people more than once; they make sure these guests want to come back. I was so
drawn to them that I wasn’t paying any attention to Mickey.
What if the Disney company got serious
about starting a program to prevent frailty? Wouldn’t that get millions of
people out of their homes and help them stay active?
I couldn’t help fantasizing.
In this trip to Disneyland, what caught my
attention the most was quite a large number of older couples and women’s groups.
They were buying a bunch of souvenirs, and
I first thought they were with their grandchildren. But no kids were around
them.
After a few minutes of thinking, what came
to my mind was a friend of mine and her husband, who’re both big Disney fans.
When Tokyo Disneyland opened 40 years ago, they
were around 10 years old. Back then, the land of dreams was where they wished they
could visit every day; it was such a special place.
When they grew up, they had the first date
at Disneyland. They celebrated every major family event at Disneyland.
Now that their children are grown up
themselves, she has started enjoying visiting the park not only with her
husband but also with other Disney-loving adult friends.
According to the friend, her favorite is
Goofy because few people understand this character….
She takes a walk every day so that she can
keep visiting Disneyland and walk around the huge park to enjoy herself even in
her 70s and 80s. She saves 100 yen every day, pretending that she had a snack, to
buy new Disney products.
I don’t quite understand how her lifestyle
works, but she sure looks really happy being a dedicated Goofy fan.
Come to think of it, people in this age
group are now becoming “seniors,” repeatedly visiting Disneyland not for their
grandchildren but for themselves, to see their long-time favorite characters.
As I picture this new generation of
seniors, the current frailty prevention and other community activities don’t
seem to fit at all. There is a huge gap….
But who am I to criticize the gap? I just ruined
a pre-retirement workshop for gentlemen, born in the 1960s and growing up with
the superhero Ultraman, by asking them about Astro Boy, the manga series in the
1950s. Hmm….
Shino Sawaoka
Associate Professor,
Dept. of Health Management,
Tokai University
jzt1864@tokai.ac.jp
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