Top This, Nature Fans!
By David Thornbrugh
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自然愛好家たちへ
ハワイでゴルフをするよりも、ディズニーランドへ行くよりも、もっとお勧めの遊び場がシアトルで完成間近。日本人が喜びそうなその施設とは…。
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All right, Japanese vacationers. Forget
about your dream holiday of playing 18 holes on Hawaii's sun-drenched links. Give up the idea of firing a real six-gun on the shooting ranges of
Guam's Wild West theme resorts. And as for
visiting Mickey Mouse, either in his original
Southern California mouse hole or his
electronic alligator-added swampland turf in Florida ― phooey!
The new must-see holiday hotspot for eager Japanese sportsmen and women
will soon be ― the new Recreational Equipment Inc. (REI) store in Seattle,
Washington.
Soon to open, the outdoor equipment store seems custom designed for the high-tech yearnings of urban
Japanese campers, bikers, hikers and mountain climbers. It is only in Tokyo,
after all, that skiers can schuss down slopes
of artificial snow without even leaving the city. With the new REI
building, Seattlites will also be able to visit
an indoor mountain, though it won't be covered with snow. They will, however,
be able to walk in the rain while inside the store.
Because Seattle is one
of the rainiest cities in the U.S., campers and hikers need good rain gear. Now, when you're trying to decide
between nylon ponchos or rubberized rainsuits or Gore-Tex parkas, you can test their waterproof qualities. Just step inside REI's glass booth rain chamber and choose light mist, steady
drizzle, or winter downpour. You can get
all wet without setting a foot outdoors.
Mountain bikers will be able to grab a test bike
and take a quick pedal around an artificial outdoor
mountain track, complete with cedar logs artfully
placed across the path so you can practice log
hopping.
Just walking through the store's aisles will be like hiking the paths of the Pacific
Northwest's forests and mountains. The building's floor, in some areas, will
be rough and rocky. Increasing the illusion of
naturalness will be a 32-foot-high, continually
running waterfall, which will grow in
volume during rainstorms as drains from the roof feed water into the "stream."
But the real draw to the new REI flagship store is its climbing peak, a 65-foot-high free-standing fake
rock made of concrete. Enclosed in a glass
cage that towers over the two-story building,
this magnet for human flies is the highest such structure in the
world. Even for non-climbers, the spectacle of
as many as 15 colorfully dressed rock climbers clambering up the rough flanks of the orange-colored pinnacle will be a major draw.
I think,
however, that the most exciting attraction of the new REI store will be car wrecks. You see, the climbing tower rises
beside an eight-lane freeway. The "rock's" peak is at the windshield level of a steady stream of traffic.
Soon, drivers in rush hour traffic are going to see firm-muscled young men and women dressed in
skin-tight shorts, tank tops, and sports bras
popping up alongside their cars.I can already
hear the sound of squealing tires and smashing
glass ― the truly "natural" sounds of city life.
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