Mitsui Water Theater
“Man and Science, Man and Nature – A Wonderful Relationship”
Man, science, and nature work in different ways: tasks beyond man’s ability are accomplished with ease by machines, the creations of science, while man and his unique personality is capable of marvels no machine could attempt. That is why machines can never take the place of man, and why man, machine, and nature must work together in harmony. The Mitsui Water Theater presents the wonderful story of man, science, and nature, and their delicate relationship. You will be moved by the freshness of the story, which is shown on the amazing waterfall screen – itself a product of advanced technology.
AN ADVENTURE OF LOVE AND COURAGE When you enter the pavilion you are given a whistle. You will be needing it later, so hold on to it.
You enter the theater on a conveyor car; once inside, you are turned through 90° to face the stage, and the car automatically becomes your seat for the duration of the show. There are two stages in the theater, and as the story unfolds, the car will move you from one to the other. The characters in the story are a youth representing mankind, a robot representing science, and a skunk representing nature. The story begins on the first stage, in the youth's workshop.
The time is the near future. The youth, Ken, is an animal photographer about to leave on a trip with the robot. To avoid startling the animals with the sound of approaching engines, they use an aircraft propelled by the robot, who never gets tired. Ken is played by an "animadoll—a computer-controlled robot. In addition to strange visual effects that blend images in the air, you will see the process of data being input into the robot. Everything's ready—let's go!
As the aircraft takes off, the car turns to face the second stage.
TAKE PART IN THE CLIMAX IN THE WATER THEATER The second and main stage is the Water Theater in which multi-images are projected on the giant 200° waterfall screen. You are in the middle of the wilderness near a giant waterfall, and many animals can be seen. As Ken is busily taking photographs, he notices a baby skunk in the river. He tries to rescue it, but falls into the river himself. The robot tries to save Ken and the skunk, but cannot find the courage to face such a dangerous situation. Ken plows his whistle to encourage the robot, who still hesitates. Now it's your turn. Encourage the robot by blowing your whistle.
The Mitsui pavilion was fun to visit, offering the novelty of seeing movies projected on a screen made of falling water. The use of water as a screen is fairly common today, due to shows like Disney's "Fantasmic", but it was quite a sensation in 1985. I remember the final portions with the whistles got pretty loud, but I can't remember if you got to keep the whistles. (CD #4 Set 8 #15)