Establishing shots of amusement park; passengers entering and seated in cars; cars travelling on monorail.




Initials JSU/V/JH/PC



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Background: Fuji amusement park on the slopes of Mount Fuji, about 100 miles (150 kilometres) west of Tokyo, is rapidly becoming one of the park's main attractions. The monorail passes over a botanical garden giving passengers an unusual aerial view of the plants growing beneath them.

The cars which travel on the monorail have been designed as plastic two-seater space ships. But appearances can be deceptive: the maximum speed of the monocars is only three-miles-an-hour (eight k.p.h.)
To heighten the illusion of space travel during the five minute trip, passengers can look down on a lake in which several small islands are rotating. It gives the impression of orbiting in space while the earth turns below.

The botanical gardens and its monorail were built by one of Japan's leading transport firms at a cost of GBP 1,400,000 (Sterling).

So popular has the ride become with both tourists and the Japanese that during week-ends more than 5,000 people a day crowd on to the monocars.