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Opinion

Top This, Nature Fans!

By David Thornbrugh


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…。

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.


ST

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