DESPITE the
bracing temperatures, the fields of Huis Ten Bosch
are awash with tulips. The air is still, but windmills spin merrily. Towheaded
youths stroll along brick footpaths, and ducks quack as they float in pristine
canals. As if on cue, the late winter clouds part, and a ray of sunshine drops
onto the quintessentially Dutch towers and domes.
In fact,
everything in this illuminated landscape from the dikes and canals to the smell of
fresh poffertjes (tiny pancakes) in the air is quintessentially Dutch. But this is Japan, not the Netherlands,
and Huis Ten Bosch in Nagasaki
is just one of several Japanese theme parks, from Shima City
to Nagoya,
offering an idealized distillation of a foreign culture.
Skillfully
inverting a few essential principles of travel, the parks offer a stress-free
and decidedly postmodern way of seeing the world a sort of abridged Grand Tour for the
fast-food generation
People want
to taste different cultures, says Akira Fujiwara, a representative of the Italian Village
in Nagoya.
But they dont necessarily have the time, or the money to go abroad.
This place is a convenient way for people to get a taste of something
different.
Specializing in
the importation of culture, the parks package and present foreign countries
like the Netherlands or Spain as a plethora of architectural reproductions,
educational attractions, shops and restaurants, with the odd roller coaster or
two thrown in for good measure. The most popular attraction at the Italian Village, for instance, is the gondola
ride. The boats (imported from Italy)
are manned by a youthful crew of Italian boatmen. As they steer passengers
along the faux Venetian canals, they smile for the cameras, shouting Buon giorno! at irregular intervals.
Meanwhile,
visitors to Parque Espaqa
in Shima City are greeted by a cast-iron statue of Don Quixote
and Sancho Panza, a perfect
copy of the statue in Madrid's
Plaza de Espaqa. Inside the park, visitors can choose
from Cervantes-inspired attractions like Don Quixotes Magical
Flight. Huis Ten Boschs chief attraction is
an elegant 345-foot reproduction of the Dom
Tower in Utrecht,
with a high-speed elevator and a viewing dock from which you can see tulip fields
and glittering Omura Bay.
These parks, some
of which cost as much as $2.5 billion to build, are by and large a product of
Japans bubble economy of the 1980s, a response to the
newfound interest in travel that was spawned during this period of frenzied
economic growth. Many opened shortly after the 1990 crash of the Japanese
economy. While some, including the German-themed Glucks Kingdom in Hokkaido, have since
closed, many persisted through the extended recession of the 1990s. And
more recent additions to the genre, such as Italian Village or Venus Fort, the
Italian-themed shopping mall in the trendy Odaiba
district of Tokyo, offer a variation on the theme by placing their primary
emphasis on that most central of tourist activities: shopping. In its first
year of operation, Italian
Village attracted 4.35
million visitors, more than double the expected figure.
Though visiting a
series of artificially constructed foreign environments may not seem
the most obvious answer to a strong case of wanderlust, the parks, which were
created with an eye for detail and authenticity, seem to satiate some of
Japans longing for travel. Rather than the broad pastiche that
characterizes, say, Disneyland,
the mini-monuments of Japans
cultural theme parks are faithful reproductions executed with stunning
accuracy. From bricks to tiles and balcony railings, many of the parks import
their raw materials directly from Europe.
The crowds
wont come unless its real, said Mr. Fujiwara. Its very important to us that somebody who has been to Italy can come
here and feel like its the real thing.
Nonetheless, the
visitors convenience remains at the forefront. With perennially smiling
staff, clean streets, and restaurants that never fail to accommodate diners
with a pair of chopsticks and steaming oshibori (hot
wet towels), the parks aim to make their visitors feel right at home and who could promise the same from a
trip abroad?
The
Netherlands in Nagasaki
Huis Ten Bosch is the largest
and perhaps most ambitious of Japans
cultural theme parks. Creating the illusion of a 17th-century Dutch village set
in 21st-century Japan, Huis Ten Bosch features
immaculate replicas of well-known Dutch buildings, including the Gouda Town
Hall as well as the Dom Tower, over three miles of elaborate canals, and enough
dikes, windmills and tulips to satisfy even the most heightened of national
stereotypes.
With four luxury
hotels and an array of restaurants, the atmosphere veers unexpectedly toward the
romantic. Huis Ten Bosch is for couples,
said one visitor, Junko Watanabe. The place has a romantic feel to
it. To that end, most of the parks attractions are of the more sedate
variety. Visitors seem content to spend the day wandering along the parks
many streets and canals. But they can rent bicycles, and in the spring a tulip
festival promises more than one million flowers in full bloom.
Huis Ten Bosch: Huis Ten Bosch-cho, Sosebo City, Nagasaki;
(81-95) 627-0526; www.huistenbosch.co.jp (Japanese language
site); english.huistenbosch.co.jp (English site). Tickets called
passports allow
entry and unlimited use of the parks attractions; 4800 yen (or about $42
at about 115 yen to $1); ages 12 to 17, 3600; 4 to 11, 2600.
A Bit of Italy in Nagoya
The Italian Village, which opened last year, is
somewhere between theme park and shopping arcade. A replica of the Campanile in
St. Marks Square is prominently placed at the entrance to the Village;
there is also a replica David statue, while a copy of the Bocca
della Verit` in Rome
presents a perfect photo opportunity. Visitors can travel around either by
horse-drawn carriage or gondola. The sounds of opera blare from speakers
throughout the park, and the staff cheerfully greets visitors in both Japanese
and Italian.
The chief
attraction, however, is the lure of a Continental shopping spree. Visitors
search for the perfect souvenir in an arcade with an impressive array of shops;
of particular note is the excellent Italian food market, the largest of its
kind in Japan
and bursting with olives, oils, cheeses and chocolate. Whether shoppers are in
search of a Dolce & Gabbana handbag, Italian
salami, hand-blown Murano glass or a fire-red Ferrari jumpsuit, all things
Italian are available here.
Italian Village: 1-15 Minato-machi,
Minato-ku, Nagoya
455-0033, (81-52) 655 1800; www.italiamura.com. Attractions are
individually priced, and range from 800 to 2500 yen. Mondays through Fridays,
visitors must buy at least 500 yen worth of tickets, which they can spend on
individual attractions; on weekends and holidays, 1,000 yen. Discount packages
are available.
Inspiration
from Cervantes
The most
family-oriented of the cultural theme parks, Parque Espaqa in Shima
City features an array of attractions
and rides with Spanish themes, including Don Quixotes Magical
Flight and Pyrenees billed as the longest suspension roller
coaster in Japan.
Matador, a bullfight-inspired roller coaster, places the rider in the
position of the bull. Rushing after phantom red capes and narrowly avoiding
swinging swords, it is perhaps
uniquely for a roller coaster something of a morally exhausting
experience.
Koshi Naka, a Parque Espaqa representative,
says that the parks strongest selling point is its cast of park
characters. Very loosely based on Cervantess Don Quixote, the
characters include a droopy but game Don Quixote hound, a cuddly Sancho Panza bear and a white cat
Dulcinea.
The
characters are enormously popular, says Mr. Naka a statement that is confirmed by the
hordes of schoolchildren screaming for Dulci! Dulci! This interspecies cast of characters inhabits a
landscape of buildings modeled after originals in Madrid
and Seville, as
well as a Gaudm-inspired sculpture park.
Parque Espaqa:
Sakazaki, Isobe-cho, Shima
City, Mie 517-0292;
(81-59) 957-3333; www.parque-net.com. Passport tickets allows
entry and unlimited use of the parks attractions; 4000 yen; children 12 to
17, 3800; ages 4 to 11, 3200.
http://travel2.nytimes.com/
2006/07/30/travel/30journeys.html