Japan's First Hybrid Roller Coaster: Hakugei at Nagashima Spa Land

The story of Hakugei begins in 1994 when White Cyclone, an Intamin wooden coaster, opened at Nagashima Spa Land nearby Kuwana in Mie prefecture, Japan. The ride featured a large layout with multiple helices, but by 2017 the coaster was starting to reach the end of it's lifespan.
Around this time halfway around the World at Cedar Point, another massive wooden coaster was going under the knife for a renovation. Because both Cedar Point and Nagashima Spa Land can be similar in some ways, it didn't take long for them to also decide to transform their old wooden coaster into something new...
Hakugei, which means white whale in Japanese, opened in 2019 as Japan's first hybrid coaster and still is currently today. Standing at 180 feet tall, this coaster's massive white structure features 3 trains and 3 inversions (a zero-g stall, and two zero-g rolls) and numerous airtime hills that make it a signature Rocky Mountain Construction coaster.

I personally never got to ride White Cyclone, but I did visit the park when it existed in 2017, but it was closed for maintenance that day (it also was the same day the park announced it's closure!). I also visited in 2018 when construction was halfway complete and returned in 2019 when it opened as Hakugei. I personally would consider it one of the best coasters in Japan with excellent airtime, a beautiful structure, and great layout.