Jamie

Weekend Beat: Kidzania gives kids their childhood back

09/30/2006
BY MOMOKO YOSHIDA, STAFF WRITER

After 6-year-old Takumi Otake passed through the mock All Nippon Airways boarding gate, he touched down in a brand new world.

It's the kingdom of kids, Kidzania, where children run the show and try their hands at simulated adult jobs. There's a hospital, a burger shop, a radio station, a fashion boutique and much more--almost everything found in a real town--but shrunk to two-thirds scale.

In this world, a perpetual twilight zone, there is only one greeting: "Good evening"--the time small children are not supposed to go out in the real world.

Children work to earn "kidzos," the currency of the kingdom. Once pocketed, kidzos can be used to pay for a variety of services, from a rental car to a trip to a sports club or to buy something at the local department store.

Far under the kid's radar is the stated mission of the theme park: to teach kids about different jobs and how the economy works.

"Here, you are going to be the father who goes to work, not me," Shigemi Otake told his son, Takumi.

The first Kidzania opened in Mexico City in 1999, targeting children 2 to 12. The Japanese version will open Oct. 5 in the new shopping mall Urban Dock Lalaport Toyosu in Tokyo's Koto Ward. The indoor park will offer about 70 activities in 50 pavilions.

Before its official unveiling, Kidzania Tokyo opened its doors on Sept. 22 to about 800 children and their parents or guardians. The Otake family was among the group to get a first look at the new 6,000-square-meter facility.

The first pavilion Takumi chose was a hamburger shop. Wearing a green apron and hat, he made a teriyaki hamburger.

To encourage self-reliance, parents do not accompany kids into the pavilions. Instead, they watch and take pictures through big windows as their kids toil away inside.

While Otake was busy snapping pictures of his son, mother Mayumi said she liked the concept of the park.

"I think it's wonderful. Kids have dreams and in many cases it starts from playing make-believe," she said. "Earning money in return for labor--it's a simple idea, but there aren't many opportunities to make our kids realize that."

Children receive a 50-kidzo traveler's check each time they enter the park. First, they must go to the bank and cash the check. It'll cost them 10 kidzos to rent a car or take a cooking lesson. If they run out of kidzos, they get a job and earn eight kidzos. They can also open an account at the bank to manage their money and withdraw cash at ATM machines inside the theme park.

Nao Mugita, 9, worked as a firefighter. A "fire" broke out in a building on a corner of the street, turning its windows red. Mugita and other kid firefighters in silvery uniforms rushed to the scene and squirted away with a fire hose. Duty completed, he collected his eight kidzos.

"I was trying to put out the fire as quickly as possible, but I was in too much of a hurry and didn't do very well," Mugita said. "My idea (of working) has changed a little bit. It's hard. I was happy to get money in exchange for my hard work."

Einosuke Sumitani, CEO and president of the operating company Kids City Japan KK, said he was inspired to open Kidzania Tokyo after visiting Kidzania in Mexico two years ago. In written answers to this reporter's questions, Sumitani said he was convinced the Kidzania concept is needed in Japan.

Calling poor communication an increasingly serious problem in Japanese society, he said, "I hope children will learn teamwork by working with other children at Kidzania."

Sumitani's ultimate goal is to make English the second language at Kidzania and make it an international town where children of different nationalities can mix and play together.

At each pavilion, children wear uniforms, use tools and instruments and learn about a specific profession. Bake bread from dough at a bakery, treat a patient doll for a cavity at a dentist, investigate an attempted bank robbery as a police officer--all activities are designed to be as close as possible to the real jobs.

Sponsorship is the key to Kidzania, said Yusuke Sekiguchi, a senior marketing officer of Kids City Japan KK. Like the radio station sponsored by J-Wave Inc. and the hospital sponsored by Johnson and Johnson K.K., all the pavilions are affiliated with actual companies.

"What we aim for is a feeling of reality," he said. "Sponsoring companies contribute to making the experiences real by sharing their brand and products."

At the same time, the project also benefits the sponsor companies, Sekiguchi said. Being a sponsor enables a company to display its brand name and company logo in the facility. Plus, Kidzania uses only one company for each business field.

Also, it's a direct marketing opportunity. A company can demonstrate products at its pavilion. This, in turn, generates instant feedback while developing potential customers--the kids.

Sekiguchi said the company intends to give Kidzania Tokyo a Japanese flavor while retaining the basic policy of Kidzania in Mexico.

For example, he says, children can rent a mobile phone--a ubiquitous device almost everyone has in Japan--and use it inside the facility. While many of these kids are too small to use a cellphone in the real world, here they can dial to their heart's delight.

The takuhai door-to-door delivery service center where children pick up and deliver parcels to pavilions, also represents everyday life in Japan.

Meanwhile, the Japanese park adopts the latest security system as used in Kidzania Mexico. Sumitani said the security precautions take into account the need to protect children in public places.

Here, both children and their guardians wear red security bracelets and they cannot leave the amusement park if a member of their group is missing.

Due to kidnapping and other concerns, "These days, our children cannot always have the childhood experiences they deserve," Sumitani said. "We want to provide our kid visitors with experiences they cannot get in the real world in a safe environment."

On preview day, some pavilions, including the burger shop, turned out to be very popular. The Asahi Shimbun's, however, was not. While other pavilions teemed with children, the newspaper's was fairly quiet.

"It's not a good day," pavilion staff member Naomasa Sakai said.

There, kid reporters go out on assignment, interview people, return, write up a story and make their own newspaper.

A relatively difficult activity--yes. But the staff members were nicely surprised at some of the children's feel for the use of words.

"They have a much greater ability to work by themselves than we expected," said another staff member Hisako Koshikawa. "So, we try to treat them as grownups. We are not looking after them, but just giving them a little help."

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http://www.asahi.com/english/Herald-asahi/...0609300102.html


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i saw this on the news. kids can even ride in toy firetrucks and spew out real water onto a fake building, try out real flight stimulators, peform surgery on a fake operating table, etc. so cute~ and a good idea. i heard this was in other countries too.






http://www.kidzania.jp/

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neko

....where were these stuff when i was a kid???... amazing.. the only problem is surveillance ... why do parents have to watch and photograph ???...privacy... ?... j/k thanks for info....

... the interesting question would be how does it work in practice do big kids he-kids bother small-kids or she-kids?.. or are she-kids automatically transfered to nail-polishing sections so that a he-kid can't do manicure or pedicure ?.....j/k

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director Hiroyuki Imaishi gives his advice on how to enjoy Dead Leaves: "If possible, drink alcohol. That might make it good.".....idiot....