Muscle Park Chitose set to reopen with new management

Good news everyone! My last Muscle Park blog mentioned that Chitose Muscle Park 千歳マッスルパーク closed its doors after just one year on Sunday, August 28, 2011. There was a message posted that they hope to come back better than before.. now it all makes sense. Thanks to twitter and a rumor going around in mixi that Chitose's park was going to reopen and it was written in an article I was able to find the article in question.
Tomamin wrote an article on the 17th mentioning that someone else bought the building that went vacant at the end of August. The company is called US.Mart (it's actually a chain of convenience stores) and they are based out of the Mie Prefecture. They have renamed the Chitose Muscle Park into "Muscle US. Land". Thanks to a couple of people including Lost in Ube who did a lot of legwork in finding out more about this venture including finding their new Muscle US Land blog!


One big surprise is that not only the building will be reopened.. but the attractions inside will remain the same and even adding other things from their other convenience stores like massage chairs, video games and Internet usage.. but the bigger thing for us Sasuke fans is that they are including the Sasuke Park! The biggest difference will be the pricing structure. Gone are the days of a la cart.. it's now pay a price per 15 minutes (105 yen or about $1.30 under current conversions) with unlimited play. They will have a members card also available.


THIS will help the people traveling to play on Sasuke Park. In the past you had to pay per each chance.. now they will have more time to spend on the obstacle section. That should attract more people with an amusement park set up. The outlet mall where this is located also posted a couple press releases about the change. As we find out more information I will post about it!

P.S. For those waiting for the Navi blog it should be up by tonight :)

Muscle Park Chitose to close end of month

Official ribbon cutting ceremony. All-Star Toshihiro Takeda 竹田敏浩, TV Host Sato Hiromichi 佐藤弘道, Monster 9 President and CEO - Ushio Higuchi 樋口 潮 (center) unidentified businessman (He might be the manager) and All-Star Kazuhiko Akiyama 秋山和彦 during the Grand Opening of Chitose's Muscle Park on July 18, 2010 ©Muscle Park Chitose

Geez.. after my tirade from the last post I thought there would be good news.. but apparently not.. the bad news seems to be pouring in again.. In what seems to be surreal news but certainly not unexpected (unfortunately), Chitose Muscle Park 千歳マッスルパーク will be closing its doors after just one year on Sunday, August 28, 2011. The sad news spread through twitter first this morning when I logged on then realized that the Muscle Park's website posted a small message on their site:

閉園のご挨拶

千歳マッスルパークは、8月28日(日）を持って、
閉園することになりました。

昨年夏のオープン以来、北海道内はもとより全国各地や海外からのご来場、
誠にありがとうございました。
またいつの日か、日本のいや世界のどこかでお会いしましょう！

更に進化を遂げたマッスルパークで、
皆様にお目にかかれることを楽しみにしています！！

残りわずかの期間ですが、皆様のご来場をお待ちしております。

The message generally says thank you to everyone during the past year. The word that Google had a hard time translating was "stop doing business/go out of business" (thanks Ube). They give a small warcry at the end saying that they hope to come back with something better.. but the message is clear. Muscle Park is done. It's a shame.. Muscle Park Chitose was not cheap.. it was built from the ground up entirely on M9 money (as they didn't pay rent in a building like they did for Odaiba) and was a freestanding building for the exclusive purpose of the housing the park. No word as to exactly what caused them to fail but I can surmise from posts online that they just didn't have enough visitors to make it solvent. The park was empty a lot.

All-Stars Kazuhiko Akiyama 秋山和彦 and Toshihiro Takeda 竹田敏浩 ©personal blog

It's a shame that there's pretty much nothing left of Monster 9's parks, shows or events going on. As you know the first Muscle Park (Odaiba/Tokyo) closed in October, 2010, Muscle Musical in Las Vegas finally finished their run in July, 2011 and the current Muscle Musical was forced to temporarily close when their theater had to be shut down because of code violations.. Then of course we know about Sasuke being delayed almost 2 months (at last rumor) to give priority to the American broadcast of the show.. even the current fan club that is supposedly forming were refunded their money recently since they are not ready when they thought they would be.. so it's not been a good couple months for Monster 9. Maybe they will think first before they act? Probably not.

Sasuke Related Updates - July Part 2

Allstar - Makoto Nagano 長野誠 posing in West Palm Beach, Florida - September, 2008 ©Pittsburgher

Got a message last night.
お知らせが遅くなりました。8月初旬に弊社運営 金比羅丸船団の船長の一人 長野 誠 船長がアメリカ_ロスに行ってイベント？セレクション？に参加することになりました。おって詳報しますね！

(Nagano going to LA in beginning of August for a selection/event. More details to come.)

Seems Allstar - Makoto Nagano 長野誠 is making a return trip to the United States. A lot of you remember that his first trip was back in September, 2008 for an anime convention he was invited to called Chibipa. Thanks to Pittsburgher for her great blogging work on that trip! (Pictures, Pictures, Pictures, Pictures, Video, Transcript of video). As of now the details are a bit fuzzy but it's clear he's coming for ANW2 in Los Angeles. California. He will be arriving just before ANW2 which starts Saturday, August 7th and runs to Monday, August 9th (though exact details on the reality TV inspired final are not clear). At this time it is unclear how long he will be staying here in the USA. I'll save my ranting on the prize money issue to that one post. As I get more details on Nagano's visit I'll most likely post if it's big news but for the most part I'll keep most of the discussion on the forums. So for you guys planning on going to watch American Ninja Warrior 2 in Los Angeles, PLEASE say hi and welcome Makoto Nagano back to the United States.. and SEND ME PICS so I can post them :) You know me and pictures! :D mwahahahahahah So sucks being poor and not being able to travel... /sigh I hope his trip is a pleasant one! Btw.. that explains why Nagano wasn't at the other events in July.. he had August already booked. ;)

All-Star Kazuhiko Akiyama 秋山和彦, TV Host Hiromichi Sato 佐藤弘道 and All-Star Toshihiro Takeda 竹田敏浩 ©Hiromichi Sato

In other news ya'll remember that the grand opening of the new Muscle Park in Chitose, Hokkaido that they dub "Chitose Muscle Park" 千歳マッスルパーク (Several Blogs on the subject) It took place on Sunday, July 18, 2010. I was a bit disappointed with the pictures from the official site though. Before that and after that all the pictures were high quality and size.. but for the official opening I had better pictures from fans than from the park.

Official ribbon cutting ceremony. All-Star Toshihiro Takeda 竹田敏浩, TV Host Sato Hiromichi 佐藤弘道, Monster 9 President and CEO - Ushio Higuchi 樋口 潮 (center) unidentified businessman (He might be the manager) and All-Star Kazuhiko Akiyama 秋山和彦 during the Grand Opening of Chitose's Muscle Park on July 18, 2010 ©Muscle Park Chitose

I was severely disappointed with this picture alone. Just like it was back in December, 2006, the most important picture of the event is one of the smallest. I can barely see the faces of who is cutting the ribbon. It's a shame really. The obstacle pictures have such fine detail while a commemorative picture like this is so small you can barely see the details of it. If I didn't know who was coming beforehand I wouldn't recognize half the people in this picture.

All-Star Toshihiro Takeda 竹田敏浩 on the Ultimate Cliffhanger アルティメットクリフハンガー in the new Chitose Muscle Park ©PureBlog

As I mentioned in the previous blog - Muscle Park Chitose has 6 obstacles in their brand new Sasuke Park attraction. It would have been great if video was taken of the All-Stars going through them. I would think Sasuke 26's Navi will have more video of this in September (provided they officially announce it..).. it's so painfully obvious now there is one.

All-Star Kazuhiko Akiyama 秋山和彦 on the Muscle Athletic マッスルアスレチック ©Muscle Park Chitose

Thanks to Lost in Ube I finally know wtf is this obstacle LOL. The name sounds redundant but hey the obstacle looks cool! It is just SO nice that Akiyama finally gets demonstration duty for Monster 9. I thought they just about forgot about him! Now.. if they can only start inviting Yuuji then all will be good in the world. But I digress.

All-Star Kazuhiko Akiyama 秋山和彦 on the Pipe Slider パイプスライダー ©Muscle Park Chitose

All-Star Toshihiro Takeda 竹田敏浩 ©gon-taro

Checking through blogs it seemed a lot of people understandably were paying more attention to Sato being there since he is the celebrity in the list. Still, I'm happy some fans took pics of the All-Stars. To us they are Sasuke. I do laugh at this picture... I think Takeda now has that shirt in 5 colors.. LOL

All-Star Kazuhiko Akiyama 秋山和彦, TV Host Sato Hiromichi 佐藤弘道 and All-Star Toshihiro Takeda 竹田敏浩

So while I'm disappointed in the amount of pictures for the grand opening, I am happy that 2 of my favorite All-Stars were able to come. Knowing now that Nagano was busy working knowing he was coming to the US in August, 2010 it was nice that M9 invited faces that we know to represent Sasuke at the opening ceremony. I just wish they'd release more pictures somewhere.

All-Star Toshihiro Takeda 竹田敏浩 ©Muscle Park Chitose

Given the amount of publicity the park got from the opening and the amount of blogs and tweets expressing how they now have something to do during those cold months of winter, I'm happy that there is a future for this park out in a remote area of Japan. I'm happy it's so well received already and do hope they continue the momentum.

All-Stars Kazuhiko Akiyama 秋山和彦 and Toshihiro Takeda 竹田敏浩 ©personal blog

Ya'll are going to laugh at me. I can't help but think of an old commercial when I see this picture. I just keep humming in my head "My buddy and me!" I'm happy they get along so well. God I wish we had more pictures.. grrrrr

All-Star Toshihiro Takeda 竹田敏浩 on the Salmon Ladder サーモンラダー ©Muscle Park Chitose

Anyway if I find more updates on Nagano's trip and on Chitose's opening I'll be sure to post it when I have enough to warrant a blog. In the meantime I'm passing popcorn!

Muscle Park Chitose - Obstacles

Front Door to Muscle Park Chitose ©poroco

(Edit: Just as I post this I see another blog with pictures - I'll incorporate it in the blog)

Seems as we get closer to the grand opening of the new Muscle Park in Chitose, Hokkaido that they dub "Chitose Muscle Park" 千歳マッスルパーク we get more updates online. Between Twitter, local newspapers and blogs I'm finding all sorts of pictures. The grand opening is actually this Sunday, July 18th but they have a small ceremony expected on Saturday, July 17th and it seems that they are letting the public come in and have a look early.

Posing in front of the Monster Box ©poroco

One blog (poroco) did a fantastic job of showing the Sasuke course (and some other attractions inside of Muscle Park Chitose) in detail! For us geeks who like seeing what's in this place we have a special sneak peek! The Monster Box set at the World record height seems to be the gateway to Sasuke Park!

Devil Steps デビルステップス in the new Chitose Muscle Park ©The Hokkaido Shimbun Press

Sasuke Park seems to start you off on the Sasuke 3rd stage obstacle Devil Steps デビルステップス (or at least a smaller variation of it) moving to the left. This picture was provided by a newspaper article - The Hokkaido Shimbun Press.

Devil Steps デビルステップス in the new Chitose Muscle Park ©Tomanin

Edit: New article from Tomanin with a similar Devil Steps デビルステップス picture but a much longer article on the Park and what they expect from it.

Salmon Ladder サーモンラダー (must look to the left (before the Unstable Bridge) as it is in the 2nd stage ©hanaokashungo

Had to edit this in (Thanks Supersheep for finding it). Just as I posted this page a new obstacle was found. The 2nd stage Salmon Ladder サーモンラダー. Please look to the left of the picture (above the green mat leading to the Unstable Bridge).

Salmon Ladder サーモンラダー ©HTB

There.. found another picture and this time with someone on it! Hmm.. seems it was on TV.. must find this clip somewhere..

Unstable Bridge アンステーブルブリッジ in the new Chitose Muscle Park ©poroco

Next it seems you go on the Sasuke 2nd stage obstacle the Unstable Bridge アンステーブルブリッジ . I'm sure in coming days we will get better pictures of each of the obstacles but for now these are just fine.

Ultimate Cliffhanger アルティメットクリフハンガー in the new Chitose Muscle Park ©poroco

Next obstacle is a variation on the new 3rd stage (and 5th incarnation of the Cliffhanger) obstacle the Ultimate Cliffhanger アルティメットクリフハンガー. This one is notably missing the bottom 2 rungs on the left side but that's overkill to have that in a family park! I do hope they keep THIS one clean...

Umbilical Cord.. yes.. I said that.. Anbirikarukodo アンビリカルコード in the new Chitose Muscle Park ©poroco

Now before people start singing the song.. the next obstacle is the 3rd stage obstacle the Rope Junction ロープジャンクション. I actually have no problems with the obstacle and it's perfect to add in a place like this.
EDIT.. O..M.. F.. G.. They actually named it something else.. according to the original Muscle Park site (specs page) they actually call this the Anbirikarukodo アンビリカルコード which means.. UMBILICAL CORD!! ew...

Pipe Slider パイプスライダー in the new Chitose Muscle Park ©poroco

The final obstacle is actually from Odaiba's old park I'm sure. It's the former 3rd stage obstacle the Pipe Slider パイプスライダー. In all Chitose has SIX (6) obstacles in Sasuke Park while Odaiba has 4. One thing of note is that I am really liking how high the ceiling is! Makes Odaiba look reaaaaally small now.

Magic Wall 魔性壁 in the new Chitose Muscle Park ©poroco

Another added obstacle which has a connection to Sasuke.. sorta.. is the Magic Wall 魔性壁 which actually was in Kunoichi 7 but no one got to it. Well.. it looks like it to me!

Staff of HTB's show Ichioshi イシオシ doing their show ©Muscle Park Chitose

Just today they added to the Muscle Park Chitose ameblo site another photo. I was VERY happy to see it was a much larger photo. With the All-Stars coming this weekend I wanted really nice high quality pictures like they provide in the Muscle Park Odaiba website. This one was a group of employees posing in front of the Sasuke Park course.

Children playing in front of the Monster Box ©Asahi

And finally one more article I found online. This one is from a local newspaper Asahi where they discuss the pricing for Muscle Park Chitose.

And figures because I just posted this.. now Chitose adds the full description of all the obstacles :) Yay! Also they changed their website URL to match that of Odaiba's.

Muscle Park Chitose Update

Grand Opening banner (scrolling in a flash animation) across the Muscle Park Chitose site today with TV Host Sato Hiromichi 佐藤弘道 prominently displayed ©Muscle Park-Chitose

We are now about 4 days until the grand opening of the new Muscle Park in Chitose, Hokkaido that they dub "Chitose Muscle Park" 千歳マッスルパーク (as I mentioned in previous blogs) and we finally get an update as to who will be part of the Grand Opening Celebration. It is this Sunday, July 18, 2010. As you see from the banner, the headliner is in fact TV Host Sato Hiromichi 佐藤弘道.

Allstars - Makoto Nagano 長野誠, TV Host Sato Hiromichi 佐藤弘道, Monster 9 President and CEO - Ushio Higuchi 樋口 潮 (center) and 2 unidentified businessmen (I'm sure tied to M9 in some way) during the Grand Opening of Odaiba's Muscle Park in December, 2006 ©Muscle Park

Despite what I may think of Sato.. he's been there promoting stuff for M9 for eons now and was part of the original group with Nagano that opened up Odaiba's park way back in 2006. This time we get 2 different All-Star coming to open up this Muscle Park. I would expect more people to show up but for now the banner suggests we get 2 All-Stars to go with Oni-San お兄さん (Older Brother is the nickname of Hiromichi Sato).

Kazuhiko Akiyama ©Carol Akiyama (From the Rise Up Article)

One of the most appropriate choices is of course the first champion of Sasuke Kazuhiko Akiyama 秋山 和彦 since he is from Hokkaido 北海道 (prefecture wise though he lives further north along the north coast). I am happy to see him be invited to this event! I don't believe they have ever invited him to do anything before so as a fan I am ecstatic that he gets the honor of doing the ceremony in his home prefecture as the first champion of Sasuke.

Toshihiro Takeda 竹田敏浩 posting with the famous Sasuke 23 Sasuke Towel ©Muscle Park

The second All-Star to participate is our favorite fire fighter Toshihiro Takeda 竹田敏浩. Compared to Nagano he hasn't headlined in Muscle Park a lot but he has done some events with Nagano (Like the October Sports Festa back in 2008). As for a headlining event.. he finally got his chance for the 3rd Anniversary of Muscle Park back in December, 2009 and then returned again to be with his buddy Nagano a week later.

Banner announcing the Grand Opening ©kuliten

So in 4 days I hope to see more posts (some on Twitter have been abuzz with excitement) and I hope they post a lot of good quality large pictures of the grand opening on their website. I know the ones already on the Ameblo Chitose site are very small.. I hope they change their format for this occasion. If not.. going to have to rely on pictures from other blogs.

Magic wall? ©Muscle Park Chitose

Finally the blog in Chitose put up another picture of what's going to be inside of the park. Reminds me of Kunoichi 7's Magic Wall 魔性壁 that was never used. I already like the tall ceilings of this building!

Sasuke related updates

Muscle Park Chitose finally has their sign up on their building ©Muscle Park Chitose

I've been taking breaks during this Sasuke off-season and only posting when something has accumulated enough to write about. Since my last Sasuke related update post there's been a couple of things (older update here). Well it's now July and several upcoming events are highly anticipated by the Sasuke community. One of the bigger ones is the opening of the second Muscle Park. Monster 9's theme park Muscle Park (specifically the one in Odaiba/Tokyo) will now have a sister park up north in the prefecture of Hokkaido 北海道 in the city of Chitose 千歳市,.

©Muscle Park-Chitose

According to a press release on the Monster 9 website the official opening will be Sunday, July 18th. Still we have no idea who will be a part of the Grand Opening celebrations. I would strongly suspect that they would invite the first champion of Sasuke Kazuhiko Akiyama 秋山 和彦 simply because this is where he is from (prefecture wise though he lives further north along the north coast). Other possible Sasuke people could be Makoto Nagano and Yuuji Urushihara but we haven't heard anything as to specifics of who will be there. We also have no idea if they will debut the new Sasuke Park at that time.

All-Stars Toshihiro Takeda 竹田敏浩, Makoto Nagano 長野誠, Katsumi Yamada 山田勝己 and Shingo Yamamoto 山本進悟 posing with an executive during the Grand Opening of Hotel ZeroCity in July, 2009 ©Tojo Design Architects, Inc.

Speaking of Nagano, the One Year Anniversary of the opening of a hotel and restaurant run by the President of Takasui (Nagano's employer) - Hotel ZeroCity and the Restaurant Konpiramaru (which obviously is named after Nagano's boat). The actual day of the anniversary is Monday, July 5th. At this time it is unclear if there will be an actual celebration and if Makoto Nagano will be involved in some way. No updates in any of the sites have been posted other than that the anniversary celebration was coming up on the 5th.

©Golden Sun TV

As I mentioned before, two very high profile Trials are already being planned. The first is the new Trials being created by Golden Sun (the new broadcaster of Sasuke in Taiwan). The deadline for entries was yesterday, July 1st. So far the only information we have is that it's a closed set and entries are limited. As more information is found I'll be sure to post it.


Meanwhile back in the United States the video application process continues for American Ninja Warrior 2. The deadline was supposed to be June 30th but they extended it again, changed the date of the trials and still have not decided on the specific location (or at least posted) other than Los Angeles, California. Eager hopefuls in both countries are ready to take on their compatriots for a chance to compete with the rest of the Sasuke competitors in the fall. At last post ANW2 will be August 7-9, 2010.

The several thousand entries were sent to M9 for Sasuke 25

Meanwhile back in Japan no official word is out yet for Sasuke 26. While we can basically assume with the organization of ANW2 and Taiwan Sasuke Trials and the admission from M9 that they have no plans to cancel the show here in Rambling Rican we will await the official announcement from M9 as to the fate of Sasuke 26. Rumors are placing it around September, 2010 as a taping date.

Makoto Nagano's 長野誠 appearance on Densetsu

In the meantime feel free to read about Makoto Nagano's appearance in the TV Show on TV Asahi and the show is called Densetsu 伝説 (which is short for Ogon Densetsu 黄金伝説 which means Golden Legend).

Sasuke Related Updates

All-Stars Toshihiro Takeda 竹田敏浩, Makoto Nagano 長野誠, Katsumi Yamada 山田勝己 and Shingo Yamamoto 山本進悟 posing with an executive during the Grand Opening of Hotel ZeroCity in July, 2009 ©Tojo Design Architects, Inc.

Next month, July, 2010, is a long-awaited month for 2 different events that are somewhat connected to Sasuke. The first one is the 1 year anniversary of the opening of a hotel and restaurant run by the President of Takasui (Nagano's employer) - Hotel ZeroCity and the Restaurant Konpiramaru (which obviously is named after Nagano's boat).

Asami 阿紗 美, Kaiou 塊王 and Makoto Nagano 長野誠 posing with Hotel ZeroCity Staff ©Makoto Nagano/Takasui Corp. (October, 2009)

July 5, 2010 is the 1 year anniversary. As of right now I don't know any details but there is a celebration of sorts being planned. If I find additional information I'll post it here.

Getting big isn't he?? Kaiou 塊王 celebrating his 1st birthday. ©Makoto Nagano 長野誠

By the way I had to add that Kaiou picture. Seems he's the physical representation of the age of the Hotel so to speak... and.. he's a real cutie isn't he? Kawaii!! His birthday was the 3rd of June.

Youtube version of Takasui commercial promoting Konpiramaru restaurant and Hotel Zerocity with Fishing Captain Makoto Nagano 長野 誠 ©Takasui Corp

Linking the video again to the Hotel ZeroCity / Restaurant Konpiramaru commercial running in Kagoshima Prefecture again. I wrote about this back in January, 2010 when it first aired and linked to the Takasui site.

Takasui commercial promoting Konpiramaru restaurant with Fishing Captain Makoto Nagano 長野 誠 ©Takasui Corp


©Muscle Park-Chitose

The 2nd event is also in July, 2010 (though I don't have an actual date yet for that). The long awaited grand opening of the brand new Muscle Park is expected to happen. Monster 9's theme park Muscle Park (specifically the one in Odaiba/Tokyo) will now have a sister park up north in the prefecture of Hokkaido 北海道 in the city of Chitose 千歳市,. For those who remember Hokkaido prefecture in relation to Sasuke.. that's where Sasuke's first Champion Kazuhiko Akiyama 秋山 和彦 is from (prefecture wise though he lives further north along the north coast). The actual park will be OUTSIDE of the Chitose Outlet Mall as opposed to how Odaiba is situated within the actual Decks Tokyo Beach Mall.

Progress picture of the Muscle Park in Chitose 千歳市 ©Muscle Park-Chitose

We've been following the blog that Muscle Park - Chitose provides and following their progress from ground breaking to current status. This latest picture shows the building is already enclosed and now they are working on the inside of the structure.


Back in March, 2010 the press in the area has been keeping tabs on the progress as well of Muscle Park - Chitose. The latest article I was able to find came from Tomamin from May, 2010. The size of the park hasn't changed - It is approximately 4000 square meters (over 13,000 square feet) (which they mention is 1 1/2 times larger than Muscle Park in Odaiba) and the total project cost 10 billion yen (approximately $109 million US).

If I find out more information on who will be part of the Grand Opening Celebrations you know I'll post about here!