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Greenland

Previously known as Mitsui Greenland
View from the park's "Panorama Mountain"
Location	Arao, Kumamoto, Japan
Public transit	Arao Station
Opened	July 1966
Owner	Greenland Resort Co., Ltd.
Attendance	3 million per year
Area	136 acres (55 ha)
Website	https://www.greenland.co.jp/park/

Template:基礎情報 テーマパーク

Greenland is an amusement park in Arao City, Kumamoto, Japan. It is among the largest amusement parks in on the island of Kyushu. It has an area of 3 million square metres in total, including the park itself, a golf course, hotel, onsen, and shopping mall among other facilities. Together, these facilities are known as Greenland Resort. The park is run by Greenland Resort Co. Ltd., a part of the Saibu Gas Holdings Group.

The Park was long known as Mitsui Greenland due to it's association with the local Mitsui Coal Mine. However, the park's name was shortened to simply Greenland on 21 July 2007 after the closure of the Mitsui mine.

Related articles

With 81 rides, the park boasts the most attractions of any amusement park in Japan. The Ferris wheel "Rainbow" is one of the largest in Japan, at a height of 105m. The park contains 10 rollercoasters, including the suspension style "NIO", Kyushu's longest rollercoaster "GAO", "Ultra Megaton", and "Milky way" which features a sitting and standing ride which run in parallel. This was the most rollercoasters of any park in Japan before it was overtaken in 2017 by Nagashima Spa Land. "Star Flyer," Kyushu's first rotating swing style ride was developed in July 2012, costing 500 million yen. There are a number of road trains for travel around the park due to the hilly area on which it is built.

The park operated has 365 days a year since opening, with no breaks aside from those caused by extreme weather such as typhoons, and to prevent the spread of COVID-19. However, the park announced in August 2023 that it would operate with 22 days of closure per year from January 2024, to secure staff holidays and strengthen safety checks.

References

Template:基礎情報 会社The park's predecessor, Mitsui Miike Lake Development Co. Ltd. was founded in 1964 by the Mitsui Miike Coal Mine Group which operated in Ōmuta City, Fukuoka, which neighbours Arao City. In July 1966, the project began with the development of a tourism fruit farm (grapes and amanatsu), children's playground, boat lake and hotel. From this, tenants were gradually attracted who set up attractions. In 1976, the company merged into the Miike mine Miike Coal Mine Construction Co. Ltd. The operation only went independent from the construction company in 1980 with the founding of Greenland Co. Ltd. In 1987 the company became a direct associate of the Mitsui Coal Mine and the company was renamed Mitsui Greenland in 1990.

In 2005, Mitsui Mine sold its shares in the company to the Saibu Gas Group, making it the new largest shareholder. The Mitsui name was removed on 1 July 2006, resulting in the current name.

Ownership history

• Greenland
  • Greenland (Kyushu)

Associated companies

• Greenland Development Co., Ltd. (Arao City, Kumamoto)
• Ariake Resort City Co., Ltd. (Arao City, Kumamoto)
• Sorachi Resort Co., Ltd. (Iwamizawa City, Hokkaido) - which runs the Hokkaido Greenland Amusement Park and Hokkaido Greenland Hotel Sun Plaza, formerly known as Iwamizawa Mitsui Greenland

Outside links

Rail

• Ōmuta Station (JR Kagoshima Line/Nishitetsu Tenjin-Ōmuta Line) is a 20 minute Nishitetsu bus from the front gate. This bus runs once an hour on weekdays and once or twice an hour on weekends and holidays.
• Arao Station (JR Kagoshima Line) is a 10 minute Sanko bus from the front gate/hotel gate.

Road

• 15 km from the Kyushu Expressway Nankan interchange.

Summary

Roller Coasters

• Dinocoaster "GAO"
  • Custom made by Meisho, track length 1735m, peak height of 40m, top speed 100km/h. Built in 1997 and renewed with a stegosaurus design.
• NIO
  • Manufactured by Vekoma. Track length 662m, peak height 35m, top speed 80km/h, peak G-force 4.69G. It has ten 2-seater units. It is a Suspended Looping Coaster (SLC). It is named after the Nio, the two muscular guardians of the Buddha, with the course designed to resemble the Nio's garb. There is a statue of Agyo at the entrance, and a statue of Ungyo on the roof of the ride.
• Milky Way Vega/Altair
  • Made by Senyo Kogyo and Togo. 650m track length, peak height 30, top speed 75km/h, 6 cars fitting 4 riders.It was relocated from the EXPO '90 Osaka gardening exhibition where it was called "Fujin Raijin." The ride features two courses which run parallel, one sitting and one sand-up style. After being renamed from Fujin Raijin to Milky Way in 2007, the sitting course was renamed Vega, and the standing course was renamed Altair, referencing the story celebrated on Tanabata.
• Ladybird Coaster
• Granpus Jet
  • Manufactured by Vekoma and Sanoyas-Hishino-Meisho. 6 cars of 4 people, peak height 25m, top speed 60km/h. The first suspended coaster in Kyushu. The cars are designed to resemble grampuses and the tracks are painted blue to resemble the ocean. The platform is designed based on the Ryūgū-jō, the palace of the Dragon King in the story of Urashima Tarō.
• Black Hole Coaster
  • Track length 400m, top speed 30km/h. An indoor black-hole themed coaster which features aurora and starry sky effects.
• Spin Mouse
  • Manufactured by Reverchon Industries. Track length 420m. A spinning wild mouse style coaster with 4-seater cars.
• Sphinx Coaster
  • Manufactured by Sky Park, track length 360m. Four 4-person cars, Top speed 40km/h。A small coaster with an ancient Egyptian Sphinx motif.
• Ultra Twister Megaton (Currently on indefinite suspension)
  • Manufactured by Togo, track length 360m, peak height of 30m, 6 cars with a capacity for 6 people each.

Haunted houses

• Horror Tower - Invitation to the Abandoned School
• Hell Temple Jigokudo
• Dororon Hospital
• 3D Sound Theatre Dracula

Ferris wheel

• Mega Ferris Wheel Rainbow
  • Diameter 100m, Peak height 104.5m, 64 gondolas fitting 6 people each. Relocated from the Asia Pacific Expo '89 in Fukuoka

Other thrill rides

• Splash
• Rapid Sliding Panic Jungle
• Super Viking
• Gyrostorm
• Dragon River
  • Manufactured by Vekoma. Track Length 329m, 10 carriages for 6 people each, 6 minutes to complete.
• Star Flyer Goku

Kids area

• Mini Viking
• Hammer Striker
• Everyone's Shinkansen
• Drive-a-saurus
• Machine Gun City

Other kids attractions

• Kururun Tower
• Operation Goodjob
• Mermaid Paradise
• Pteranodon
• Water Shot
• Submarine Shooting
• Flying Elephants
• Kids Station
• Service Car Drift Racing
• Dax - relocated from Kashii-Kaen
• Ball Shoot
• Ladybird - relocated from Kashii-Kaen
• Happy Sky (Kumamon Ver.) - Originally meant for Kashii-Kaen but moved to Greenland Kashii-Kaen's closure.

Park Transport Attractions

• Witch's Flying Tricks
• Merry-go-round Rendez-vouz
  • Made by Sanoyaz-Hishino-Meisho, diameter of 20m, 40 horse seats, 8 carriage seats, for a total capacity of 80 riders
• Card Maze "Winding Forest Grand Adventure"
• Giant 3D Maze KARAKURI Castle
• Teacups
• Bang! Bang! Bazooka
• Cosmic Maze
• Trampoline
• Small Java
• Ice World
• Crystal House
• Luxor Maginc Personality Teset in the Valley of the Kings
  • Built by Nippo Sangyo. Walkthrough attraction based on the Luxor Temple. Slot a dagger and answer the question in each of the four rooms: "Gate room," "Illusion room," "Fresco room," and the "Defense room." In the final "Revelation Room" the results of the personality test are announced.
• Monster x Heroes
• Sky Jet
• Monster Busters - Wild West Train
• 4D Gimmick Theatre

Fairground Attractions

• Sky Lift (Observation Deck Direction - Pool Entrance Direction)
• Sky Ship (Dragon River Direction - Monster x Heroes Direction)
  • Boat shaped hanging monorail, 12 4-seater gondolas.
• Lift (Dinosaur Coaster GAO Direction - Super Viking Direction)
• Road Train (Travels around the parks to 8 different stops)

Zoo

• Carnival Sultan (Hoop Throw)
• Shooting House（Target Shooting）
• Lazer Shooting
• G-ZONE (Skill Challenge Games)
• Carnival Games

Arcades

• JR九州811系電車 - 三井グリーンランド時代にラッピング車両が存在した。

Go Karts

• Indie Kart (1 Seater)
• Indie Kart (2 Seater)
• GT Go Kart (1 Seater)
• GT Go Kart (2 Seater)

• 1 Oct 1980 - Founded as Greenland Co., Ltd.
• Jun 1990 - Renamed to Mitsui Greenland Co., Ltd.
• Nov 1991 - Listed on the Fukuoka Stock Exchange.
• Dec 1992 - Listed on the Osaka Stock Exchange Second Section
• 1 Sep 2005 - Saibu Gas replaces Mitsui Coal Mine as largest shareholder
• 1 Jul 2006 - Renamed to Greenland Co., Ltd.
• Jul 2013 - Listed on the Tokyo Stock Exchange Second Section following the merger of the Tokyo and Osaka Stock Exchanges
• Apr 2022 - Moved from Tokyo Stock Exchange Second Section to the Standard Market following the revision

References

• Puppy Fun Animal Playground (with Piglets, Flamingo, Guinea pigs, Dogs among others)

Access

• Hurricane
  • Custom made by Meisho, track length 970m, peak height 30m, top speed 85km/h. First domestically produced loop-de-loop coaster in Japan. It was replaced by the Dinocoaster in 1987.
• Atomic Coaster
  • Manufactured by Sengyo Kogyo、peak height 40m、track length 290m、Top speed 70km/h, 6 cars holding 4 rides each。Round trip loop-de-loop style coaster. It's opeation ceased in May 2009 but the loop part remains in the park.
• Adventure Boat
  • Built by Hitachi Zosen. 8 boats with a capacity of 12 people each. Diameter of 23m. A water ride with a boat in water which simulated ocean waves with a projected background.
• Hurricane Bolt
  • Made by the Dutch manufacturer Mondial. 6 pods seating 5 people each. Peak height 19.7m. The 6 pods rotate on an arm, attached to a main arm which moves up and down while rotating.
• Chaos
  • Made by American manufacturer Chance Rides. 18 2-person gondolas, peak height of 12m. Featured seats attached to a 19.95m disk which rotated while rising upwards.

Currently running attractions

• Game Corner
• Game Plaza
• Joy Plaza

Former facilities

• 1979 - Hurricane
• 1980 - Atomic Coaster
• Summer 1983 - Crystal House
• Summer 1988 - Ice World
• 1987 - Dinocoaster (Later renamed Dinocoaster "GAO")
• 1990 - Mega Ferris Wheel Rainbow
• 1991 - Fujin Raijin (Later renamed Milky Way Vega/Altair)
• 1993 Sphinx Coaster, Adventure Boat
• 1994 - Ultra Twister Megaton
• 1995 - Grampus Jet, Luxor Magic
• Apr 1997 - NIO, Merry-go-round Rendez-vous
• Jul 1998 - Dragon River, Spin Mouse, Chaos、Hurricane, Sky Ship, Temple of the Demon Forest
• 2006 - Horror Tower - Invitation to the Abandoned School
• Apr 2006 - Witch's flying tricks
• 2007 - Black Hole Coaster, Hinata Kids
• 19 Sep 2009 - Gyrostorm
• 12 Mar 2011 - Water Shot
• Mar 2012 - Card Maze "Winding Forest Grand Adventure"
• 28 Jul 2012 - Star Flyer Goku
• Autumn 2014 - Giant 3D Maze KARAKURI Castle
• 21 Jul 2018 - Kururun Tower
• Mar 2019 - Monster Heroes, Monster Busters - Wild West Train, Lazer Shooting
• 2019 - Super Shooting Ride, Monster x Heroes
• Jul 2019 - Operation Goodjob
• May 2020 - Cosmic Maze
• Jul 2021 - Bang! Bang! Bazooka
• Apr 2022 - Dax, Ladybird, Happy Sky (Kumamon Ver.)
• Mar 2024 - Submarine Shooting

History of ride additions

Television

• Tourist Fruit Farm - There from the parks beginning, it was made up of 17 hectares of vineyard and 20 hectares of Amanatsu Mandarin farm.
• Ultraman Land - Opened on part of the Greenland park grounds in 1996, and run independently by Tsuburaya Productions, it ran until 1 September 2013.
• Kyushu Puppy Paradise - Opened adjacent to the greenland park grounds in march 2000, it closed on 30 June 2005. On 20 July of the same year, it was rebooted as the Puppy Fun Animal Playground attraction, a part of Greenland itself. The former site of Puppy Paradise now has retail shops such as a supermarket.
• Asia Park - Opened 21 July 1993. Even after introducong a Sega World arcade, Asia Park was unable to overcome financial difficulties and closed in August 2000 after accruing roughly 3.1billion yen in debt.

Events

• Hotel Verde
• Hotel Blanca
• Greenland Resort Golf Course（Formerly: Mitsui Greenland Golf Course）
• Nurubon Garden Yakiniku
• Pascca World Bowling
• Kumamoto Kenmin Televisions Housing Exhibition
• Green Smile Retail Park

Novel

• Yoichi Komori "The World of Oz" (Published 2015 by Shueisha).

Film

• Oz Land - Teaching the Magic of Smiling。(2018) - Based on the novel "The World of Oz"。Filmed across all of Greenland, the park appears with its real name within the world of the film.

Music videos

• GReeeeN「Midoriiro」（2019） - An original theme song made in collaboration with GReeeeN. A "GReeeeNLAND" collaboration ran in the park from 16 March to 26 May 2019.

Notable Previous Attractions

• Playgirl Q（Episode 7, aired 1974） - Most of the second half takes place in the park.
• Seibu Keisatsu（Episode 64 & 65）- First episode to be filmed on location. Greenland used alonside The Miike Coal Mine Railway. The drama features a shootout between the police and criminals as well as the explosion of the free rest area.
• Super Rescue Solbrain（Episode 34 & 35, aired 1991）- A two part episode featuring a lengthy battle.
• Dwa!! Ultraman Land Spa-Arao Resort（12 Oct 1996 - 28 Sep 2002）- Recorded in Mitsui Greenland and Ultraman Land. Broadcasted on RKB Mainichi Broadcasting, RKK Kumamoto Broadcasting, and RCC Broadcastingで放映。
• Ultraman Tiga（Episode 43, aired 1997）- Monsters appear in Greenland, breaking Rollercoasters and other attractions.
• USO!? Japan（Aired 2001）- Covered strange happenings in the Horror Tower attraction. The name was not shown on the broadcast.
• Kamen Rider 555（Episode 2, aired 2003）- The main characters set up a children's hairdresser in Greenland to recover their belt which was sold to a pawn shop. Greenland appears briefly in the filming outside the front gate.
• Ikkaku Senkin! Nihon Roulette（Aired 5 Sep 2008）- Appeared as part of quiz questions posed to participants.

In media

1. 山下航 (2023-08-11). "グリーンランドが来年から休園日 1966年から続く「年中無休」を転換". 西日本新聞. Retrieved 2023-08-17.
2. ゴルフ特信2005年9月号. "有明CC大牟田G・久留米CC広川G、三井グリーンランドGCが西部瓦斯系列に". 椿ゴルフ. Retrieved 2017-09-21.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
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9. PR TIMES. "グリーンランドに新アトラクションが３機種同時オープン！". prtimes.jp (in Japanese). Retrieved 2023-01-17.
10. PR担当イケダ (2015-11-20). "遊園地が舞台!". グリーンランドスタッフ日記. グリーンランドリゾート. Retrieved 2018-08-13.
11. "村上春樹さんら有名作家 荒尾に注目 新刊本に相次ぎ登場". 西日本新聞. 2016-01-13. Retrieved 2018-08-13.
12. 此花さくや (2018-10-27). "地方遊園地のリアルを『オズランド』にみる". シネマトゥデイ. Retrieved 2018-10-30.
13. "GReeeeNLAND｜グリーンランド遊園地×GReeeeN". Retrieved 2020-05-12.

Accidents

• 2007年5月5日、大阪府吹田市のエキスポランドに設置されていたジェットコースター「風神雷神II」で乗客が死傷する事故が発生。この影響により事故当日の夕方から園内に設置されていた同型機「風神雷神」も含む複数のジェットコースターの運転を休止した。また、エキスポランドにある事故機の「風神雷神II」については、製造元の泉陽興業（本社：大阪府）に運搬して解体検査を行うことになったため運転を休止。これに伴い同型の車両を用いていた「風神雷神」については金属疲労の恐れがある部品を全て新品に交換し名称を「天の川コースター ミルキーウェイ」に変更のうえ、2007年7月21日より運転を再開した。
• 2012年1月2日、「パラシュートタワー」において、ゴンドラが上った後、元の場所に降下する際、減速を十分に行わないまま着地し、乗っていた女性客とその小学生の娘が、首や腰などに軽傷を負う事故があった。国土交通省は、重大事故に繋がりかねないインシデントであるとして、調査を行った。
• 2016年10月26日、「スフィンクスコースター」において、最終カーブ付近で足元に置いた荷物が落下しそうになり荷物を掴もうとした際に車両から左手を外に出し、左手首が点検用の手すりに接触し骨折を負う事故が発生。再発防止策として手すりを配した点検通路を撤去し周囲の地面を嵩上げして地表からの走路点検を行う形に改め、車両への手荷物搭載の禁止と手荷物預かり棚の設置や乗車中手足を出さない旨の看板やアナウンスによる注意喚起を行うとした。
• 2019年8月、波の出るプールで女子（5歳）の溺死事故が発生した。

] ]

1. "「パラシュートタワー」で女児と母親けが…熊本". 読売新聞. 2012-01-06.
2. "プールで溺れた５歳女児死亡、熊本・荒尾". サンスポ. 2019-08-18.