{"id":1265,"date":"2009-07-23T21:31:38","date_gmt":"2009-07-23T12:31:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/regex.info\/blog\/2009-07-23\/1265"},"modified":"2010-05-30T21:38:27","modified_gmt":"2010-05-30T12:38:27","slug":"kidzania-wrapup-graphic-design-and-a-pizza-dinner","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/regex.info\/blog\/2009-07-23\/1265","title":{"rendered":"KidZania Wrapup: Graphic Design and a Pizza Dinner"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\n\n
\nNOTE<\/b>: Images with an icon next to them have been artificially shrunk to better fit your screen; click the icon to restore them, in place, to their regular size.\n<\/div>\n\n\n

This is #8 (and the final post) in a series<\/span> on our visit to KidZania in\nNishinomiya, Japan<\/a>, where Anthony's day included\nworking at a gas<\/span>-station<\/a>, banking<\/a>,\nconstruction<\/a>,\ndriver's ed<\/a>,\njournalism<\/a>,\nand pilot training<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n

Having procured his driver's license<\/a> earlier, he was still interested in\nrenting a car<\/span> so he could drive around a bit.<\/span> Every time he'd tried before,\nthere was a long<\/span> line, but this time he was able to get in.<\/p>\n\n

However, for reasons I didn't initially understand, he came back to us\nand said that he wanted to do something else. This was surprising, and it\ntook a while<\/span> to find out that the lady had told him that if he did this\nactivity, it would be his last (because KidZania was closing soon), and was\nthat okay? No, he wanted to play forever, so he came back to us. I quickly<\/span> explained that they were closing soon and whatever<\/i> he did would be\nhis last, so he ran back to the car-rental place, but in the intervening 30\nseconds it had accepted its last customer and was now closed for the day.\nSigh.<\/p>\n\n

It was pretty freakin' ridiculous of the lady to have said what she did,\nbecause working there, she must understand the situation. The KidZania<\/span> session closes at 9pm, and with most activities taking 30 minutes, you have\nto get into an activity by 8:30 or you lose out. It was 8<\/span>:20, and everyone\nwas running around like a chicken<\/span> with their heads cut off looking for\nany<\/i> activity that was still open. (Activities whose last sessions\nwere already filled displayed a “closed” sign, and pretty much all of them\ndid by the time the lady talked Anthony out of doing the one activity he'd\nbeen itching to do all day.)<\/p>\n\n

We, too, joined the headless-chicken crowd, walking at a brisk<\/span> pace\nevery which way in hopes of finding something not closed. For a moment<\/span> I\nsaw<\/span> that a beauty<\/span> salon had an opening, but in the intervening few seconds\nit took me to ask Anthony whether he wanted to do it, it closed. I should<\/span> have just gone in.<\/p>\n\n

Remarkably, we did<\/i> find one final place that was open, a “graphic\ndesign shop”. We couldn't believe our luck as Anthony was able to take a\nseat<\/span> in the waiting area. Others continued to come up and check, but\nAnthony seemed to be the last.<\/p>\n\n

The graphic-design shop actually cost a few<\/span> KidZo (KidZania's play\nmonetary unit) to attend, but having worked most of the day, Anthony was\nflush with cash...<\/p>\n\n

<\/a>\nNikon D700 + Nikkor 70-200mm f\/2.8 @ 70 mm — 1<\/sup>\/<\/big>250 sec, f<\/span>\/2.8, ISO 6400 —\nmap & image data<\/a> — nearby photos<\/a><\/span>\nTouching Base With his Finances<\/span>\n<\/div>\n\n

Even though he had to pay, it was still hands-on work...<\/p>\n\n

<\/a>\nNikon D700 + Nikkor 70-200mm f\/2.8 @ 95 mm — 1<\/sup>\/<\/big>250 sec, f<\/span>\/4, ISO 1100 —\nmap & image data<\/a> — nearby photos<\/a><\/span>\nGraphic Designer at Work<\/span>\n<\/div>\n\n
<\/a>\nNikon D700 + Nikkor 70-200mm f\/2.8 @ 98 mm — 1<\/sup>\/<\/big>250 sec, f<\/span>\/3.5, ISO 900 —\nmap & image data<\/a> — nearby photos<\/a><\/span>\nSituation-Induced Soft Focus<\/span>\n<\/div>\n\n

As I've mentioned in these posts, KidZania is excellent<\/i> for kids,\nbut not well designed for parents. Parents pay a steep<\/span> fee for the\nprivilege of babysitting their own kids, have almost no place to sit, and\ncan watch their kid having fun only if they don't mind being uncomfortable\nand in the way of others. Photography is allowed, but everything\ndiscourages it, from the weak and wildly-mixed lighting to poor or\nnonexistent viewing angles.<\/p>\n\n

The two shots above were taken from outside through a glass<\/span> wall covered\nwith writing. I did my<\/span> best to combine a nice<\/span> angle with limited\ninterference in front of the lens, but it was challenging.<\/p>\n\n

<\/a>\nNikon D700 + Nikkor 24-70mm f\/2.8 @ 70 mm — 1<\/sup>\/<\/big>250 sec, f<\/span>\/3.5, ISO 900 —\nmap & image data<\/a> — nearby photos<\/a><\/span>\n<\/div>\n\n

It turns out that he enjoyed it – he got to make some stickers\nfrom his coloring design – and photography aside, we enjoyed it\nparticularly well because we could actually sit comfortably while he was in\nthere, owing to the fact that the design shop was just across from a small<\/span>\n(and real!) pizza place with outside seating. We appreciated<\/span> both the pizza\nand the seating.<\/p>\n\n

When he was done, we had some pizza and guava juice (!?) waiting for\nhim....<\/p>\n\n

<\/a>\nNikon D700 + Nikkor 24-70mm f\/2.8 @ 38 mm — 1<\/sup>\/<\/big>250 sec, f<\/span>\/3.5, ISO 4500 —\nmap & image data<\/a> — nearby photos<\/a><\/span>\nHearty Meal After a Day's<\/span> Honest Work<\/span>\n<\/div>\n\n

While he ate, we recounted the fun of the day, then I asked<\/span> him which\nactivity was his favorite. Without hesitation he gave his answer<\/a>,\nwhich surprised us to no end.<\/p>\n\n

He fell asleep in the car on the way home, most likely quite contented with a wonderful<\/span> day,\nbut already wishing he could go back.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

(UPDATE: We did go back, in May 2010, so the KidZania story continues here<\/a>...)<\/p>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

This is #8 (and the final post) in a series on our visit to KidZania in Nishinomiya, Japan, where Anthony's day included working at a gas-station, banking, construction, driver's ed, journalism, and pilot training.<\/p>

Having procured his driver's license earlier, he was still interested in renting a car so he could drive around a bit. Every time he'd tried before, there was a long line, but this time he was able to get in.<\/p>

However, for reasons I didn't initially understand, he came back to us and said that he wanted to do something else. This was surprising, and it [...]","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1,2,24,3],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/regex.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1265"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/regex.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/regex.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/regex.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/regex.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1265"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/regex.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1265\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/regex.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1265"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/regex.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1265"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/regex.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1265"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}