Eurocentric cultural theme parks in Japan: domestic tourists’ perspectives on place branding

Abstract

During the Bubble Economy era, cultural theme parks were constructed in rural Japan for economic rejuvenation. These cultural theme parks or gaikoku mura (foreign villages) embrace foreign cultures and landscapes rather than rollercoasters. They offer Japanese tourists the foreign travel experience adapted and modified for the Japanese market. Set within place-based branding, imaginaries, and authenticity, this paper compares the Eurocentric theme parks of Huis Ten Bosch in Nagasaki and Yufuin Floral Village in Oita. Opening in 1992, Huis Ten Bosch is a large-scale cultural theme park based on Nagasaki’s historical connection to the Netherlands. Recreating Dutch cities and landscapes, it offers hotels, restaurants, shops, and attractions. Within the hot springs area of Yufuin, the Floral Village opened in 2012, modelled after The Cotswolds, UK. Houses with storybook architecture contain souvenir shops and tea rooms featuring characters from British literature and Studio Ghibli anime. Based on site visits, photographic documentation, and qualitative sentiment analysis of comments written by visitors on TripAdvisor, the paper investigates the perceptions of Japanese tourists. They are positive about Huis Ten Bosch with developers having successfully created and branded a Dutch environment, while mixed messages at Yufuin demonstrate the importance of product-market match for these ‘exotic’ attractions.