Wednesday, June 30, 1999
The University Daily Kansan
Section B·Page 5
Cost of recreation declines
The Associated Press
ORLANDO, Fla. — Go ahead and get that second cone of cotton candy at the amusement park this summer. You can afford it.
The average price for a family of four to visit a U.S. amusement park has decreased by $1.58 this year to $141.32, according to an annual survey by the trade publication Amusement Business.
The Nashville, Tenn., based Amusement Business, which compiles information from the same 25 parks each year, considers the cost of admission for two adults and two children, parking, food, and two child-size souvenir T-shirts.
The decline is the first since the publication began keeping tabs five years ago.
"When you look at the whole scope of things, it didn't cost
decrease as much as it just stopped its magnificent gains." Tim O'Brien, Amusement Business' southeast editor, said.
A large part of the decline was attributed to Six Flags' decision to admit children under 48 inches for half-price at its 16 amusement, water, and animal parks.
The goal is to develop brand loyalty at a young age by a demographic group whose purchasing power is growing, Brent Gooden, a spokesman for the Premier Parks, said.
"These youngsters will grow up and as teenagers they'll want to ride the latest ride. And these teenagers will be parents someday." Gooden said.
Cedar Fair, which owns Cedar Point in Sandusky, Ohio, and Worlds of Fun in Kansas City, Mo., also had tried discount chili
after a admission to great success several years ago.
"It's a wonderful marketing play, and it saves people money. What they lose in money, they pick up in good will and marketing value," O'Brien said.
Nellie Bly Park in Brooklyn, N.Y., was the cheapest park, costing a family of four only $65.
Food prices have shot up, with the average cost of a hot dog and hamburger increasing 14 cents to $2.46 and $2.99 respectively. However, the average cost of a T-shirt at the parks decreased $2.14 to $7.4.
The Orlando-area theme parks continued to be the priciest in the survey. Universal Studios at Florida, whose prices are similar to nearby Walt Disney World and Sea World parks, topped the list, costing a family of four $252.
Japanese museum battles WWII
The Associated Press
TOKYO — Tokyo finally has a national museum chronicling the events of World War II. But it is a portrait cleansed of Pearl Harbor, Hiroshima and almost any direct reference to the front lines.
The roiling passions aroused by the Japan's role in World War II have proven too much for the Showa Hall museum, according to Hirokazu Ishida of the government agency responsible for the $101 million project.
"The people on the left wanted wartime responsibility addressed," he said. "The people on the right protested they didn't want an anti-war memorial. It became impossible to display anything historical about the war."
By the time the museum opened in March, a decade after the project began, officials had backed down from plans to deal with the responsibility issue, and instead had settled on the safer theme of the hardships suffered by civilians at home.
Food-rationing tickets are exhibited next to worm-out letters sent to troops. Black-and-white movie footage shows people digging bomb shells.
Not surprisingly, the toning down of the museum's message hasn't
"Japanese people are still blind to what the war meant."
Hidehiko Ushijima professor at Tokai Women's College
pleased activists on either side
A Tokyo-based group representing veterans' families, and which pushed for the museum, says the museum fails to do justice to the war, which left nearly 2 million Japanese dead, 672,000 of them civilians.
"It's like touching the elephant's leg and thinking you've seen the elephant," said Hitoshi Nakayama, an official with the association. "You have to talk about the war."
On the other side, Hidehiko Ushijima, a professor at Tokai Women's College, says the museum reflects how Japan had never fully dealt with the emperor worship and glorification of death that were wartime pillars of the Japanese psyche.
"Japanese people are still blind to what the ugrush. "Ugusha said
To pacifists, the site of the new museum has disturbing rightist and
militarist undertones. It is within walking distance of Yasukuni Shrine, a Shinto memorial that has been highly controversial for including war criminals among its enshrined.
Even the museum's name has been criticized.
Showa, which means "bright peace," refers to the 1926-1988 reign of Emperor Hirohito. But the museum has nothing displayed on Hirohito, except newspaper clippings of his radio address announcing Japan's surrender.
Mainstream opinion tends to hold Hirohito as a largely powerless figurehead who couldn't block the decisions of his generals. Many leftists and pacifist groups, however, argue that he should have accepted responsibility for the war, and that by failing to do so he made it harder for the rest of the nation to own up as well.
None of that controversy is outlined at the Showa Hall.
Kazuo Ohashi, a pacifist, was so outraged by Showa Hall that he filed a lawsuit with his supporters accusing the government of misusing tax money to build it.
"It's a sham," Ohashi said. "The museum contains nothing about the war."
Dole pushes for Internet porn removal from libraries
The Associated Press
WASHINGTON — Republican presidential candidate Elizabeth Dole wants to withhold federal money from public libraries that don't close pornography-permitting loopholes.
Dole, entering the family values debate, said libraries should install computer software that blocks access to pornographic sites on the Internet.
The House has passed a bill that reduces federal money to libraries that don't install the software in computers used by children. Dole argued that the measure also should apply to computers used by adults.
"Pornography is off-limits to children, but it is readily accessible to adults. That's wrong," the former American Red Cross president said in a draft of a prepared statement.
She also was sending a letter to House Speaker Dennis Hastert, RIII., and Senate Majority Leader Trent Lott, R-Miss., urging them to close pornography-permitting loopholes.
"We shouldn't let pornography slip in through an electronic backdoor," she said in the draft remarks. "This isn't about First Amendment protection. It's about values."
Aides said her actions mark a new phase in her campaign, as she begins to outline her family values agenda.
Several new public polls suggest a growing concern among voters about moral leadership in America. One survey gave Republicans a lead of nearly 20 percentage points over Democrats when asked which party best represents the values: faith in God, personal responsibility, ethics and honesty.
Dole, ranked second behind Texas Gov. George W. Bush in most Republican presidential polls, has distinguished herself from the crowded GOP field by embracing modest gun control measures.
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