Imagine this: driving 1,5 hours south of Fukuoka, closing your eyes and opening them to the vision of Holland. No, this is not a hallucination brought on by too much sake or a dream inspired by Europe-nostalgia... This image is 100% real, and the brainchild of Mr Yoshikuni Kamichika, a Japanese businessman who, in the early 90's, chose to celebrate the long historical connection between the Dutch traders and Nagasaki by founding Huis ten Bosch. Huis ten Bosch is not your garden variety theme park; this is a complete replica of a 17th century Dutch town, complete with Royal Palace, customs house, town hall, port, churches, squares, shops and canals! Sounds tacky? Well, that's what Vaughan & I were expecting, but on our first visit this weekend we were both impressed by the incredible attention to detail and the staggering architectural authenticity of most buildings. Not only were all the bricks imported from Holland, but they even shipped in an existing building from Leiden University! I guess this proves once again that the Japanese don't do anything half-assed... Now one could ask: why in God's name would a Belgian girl and a Kiwi guy visit a fake Dutch town in southern Japan?? Certainly a relevant question, but we were originally taking a weekend trip there with Yasuko and her best friend Atsuko. They had to cancel at the last minute, but Vaughan & I thought we should still go and see what all the fuss was about. Worth every minute if you ask me. Some feedback on this entry would be cool, I'd love to hear what you guys think of this rather bizarre place...
When you enter the park you find yourself transported into beautiful rural Holland, with a sweeping view of windmills and 300,000 flowers. Only the insistent announcements in Japanese and the many Asian visitors fracture your dreams! And ok, the quaint windmills are a bit over the top, but who can blame the designers for including a few Dutch sterotypes ;-)?
I think that even the most cynical of Dutch -or European- people would find it hard to tell the difference between this picture of a street in Huis Ten Bosch and a real Dutch street. Opinions are always welcome, but to me it certainly looked quite authentic!
For a Belgian girl like me it was a great opportunity to indulge in some food that's close to home, namely pancakes and cheese :-).
Gouda cheese: a staple back in Belgium & Holland but a rare treat here in Nihon
Strolling around at night on the cobbled streets was a wonderful way of soaking up the atmosphere. At certain moments the environment felt so real to me it was like I had been transported back home. For a make-believe setting they certainly did a convincing job!
To give the area a classic Dutch feeling a network of six kilometers of canals was constructed, all of them self-cleaning. Just as in Dutch cities like Amsterdam they have canal boats cruising these waters, and Vaughan's photo of this boat fully captures the magical atmosphere at night.
More pretty lights at the Alexander plein, where you can find the town hall and heaps of restaurants, bars and of course shops (full of clogs and other tacky souvenirs). The Japanese obsession with shopping never ceases to amaze me...
Trust the Japanese to throw a bit of spectacle and 'waw'-moments into the mix!
I was bright and chipper on our second day as I couldn't wait to enter fantasy land again. This is what nostalgia does to a person, oh boy... The tower in the background is a replica of Utrecht's Dom Toren, the tallest church tower in the Netherlands.
Unlike Europe, visitors who want to enjoy the view don't need to climb hundreds of stairs, but instead get whizzed up by an elevator to an observation platform (80m) that offers a view over the whole park and Omura bay. Dutch city planning combined with Japanese technology!
A real give-away that you aren't actually experiencing the genuine thing are the surrounding hills, because as is common knowledge, Holland is as flat as you can get. The green hills did provide a beautiful backdrop for a boat trip in the bay though :-).
This is once again an exact replica of a historical reality: the ship 'De Liefde', which was the first Dutch vessel to reach Japanese shores in the 16th century.
3 comments:
Mijn idee: Ziet er niet zo 'fake' uit en het park moet je soms een 'feel like home' gevoel gegeven hebben of heb ik het mis?
Lopen wij Belgen ook niet allemaal nieuwsgierig een Japans of Chinees pavilioen binnen ergens in Brussel... of in Rijsel?
Knap werk van die Jappen!
Welke verrassing staat er jullie nog te wachten? Keep going!!!
One thing the Japanese are very good at is copying then re-packaging. It's a little like a Dutch version of Tokyo Disneyland. One of the reasons for it (as it was explained to me) was that most Japanese never go overseas so overeseas has to come to them.
I never went there but I did go to a place caleed Washuzan(?) which is near Okayama. It's got some of the same feel but is actually a real working town rather than a theme park. If you guys have time it would be interesting to go & see it so you can compare.
hilarisch lijkt me dat zo een klein Nederland in Japan!
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