Spooky Spaces: Nara Dreamland
Nara Dreamland was an amusement park in Nara Japan. It bared a striking, downright startling resemblance to a certain mouse related park in Anaheim CA. Similar except in one small way. For ten years it sat abandoned...
Entrance to a dream.
From what I gathered, some sort of attempt was made for an officially licensed park to be made in Japan in the early 1960's but the deal fell through for some reason. Not to be defeated, the company proposing the deal decided to go forward with plans anyway. They sent teams of designers to the original park in California to meticulously study and photograph it. Upon return, they built their best approximation of the original. Ok, they straight-up copied it. (sort of)
Bizzare-O World Main Street?
It opened with great fanfare and a new name. Dreamland. The public was longing for American-style entertainment at the time and it was well received. Dreamland was popular for about twenty years. Then, in the early 1980's, a 1-2 punch from changing tastes to more thrilling rides, and the opening of the offical mouse-house in nearby Tokyo started lowering attendance.
Still, being closer to the rural cities in Japan and much less expensive then the new name-brand park in Tokyo kept things hopeful for a time. Investments were made to add more thrilling but also more generic amusement attractions. Those investments never quite paid off. It finally closed in 2006. By then, it was a rundown shell of its former self and had all the charm of a "sad mall." Complete with swapmeet like vendors and those little rides for toddlers sometimes found in front of supermarkets.
What would think if you went to this place without knowing what it was?
I have to resist the urge the drone on and on about this place; I find it fascinating. It has a unique eerieness to it. Even pictured in its heyday; you can see that the "replica" attractions have something "off" about them. The castle looks great at first. Jarringly similar to the Anaheim original except, it's a facade! Viewed from the side, you can see that it's almost two-dimensional in its flatness. Like a giant poured-concrete castle-shaped wall. Or like a full-scale concrete pop-up book. The Swiss Mountain is squat, too bulbous in some places and ridiculously angular in others not to mention completely hollow on the inside. A roller coaster through a dark hollow roughly mountain shaped, but you'd never know from the inside warehouse-looking space? Sounds great. The addition of gimmicky rides and water slides in later years only added to the surrealness.
I really enjoy blogs and media about abandoned amusement parks. The pictures are really scary, but there is also an element of beauty and sadness to them. They were places so loved for a time. Visitors let their hair down, celebrated occasions, went on dates, made memories.
Some parks go on and on for generations, institutions of the community. For others, one day, for trivial or dark reasons, the party is over. Like a bar with the lights on, the illusion is ruined. No one wants to have fun worrying about ride upkeep, being scared by rowdy teens or saddened things "aren't like they used to be."
The parks that don't change with the times, or change too much with the times, can totally fail. A lot of the time they are sold over and over as each new owner tries their hand at reviving the party. Usually, it's a more economical approach each time until someone runs out of cash or the city takes it for being an eye sore or attracting crime. That's how most parks end up like this. People are usually glad to get rid of them long before bulldozer number one makes the first blow.
Part of me wishes the public treated the sites where these parks used to be with the same reverence as a historical monument or memorial. But not a place of sadness like for a war fought or for some historical figure who died, but from a place of joy and wonder.
However, a part of me is glad there are still mysteries to uncover, stories to find. The ability to reflect, wonder, and imagine what things used to be like, and what could have been is uniquely human I think. It's the kind of joy immune to changing times and greater thrills.
Below are some interesting pics I fetched from around the cyberspace of Nara Dreamland. Also, posted are some brave Youtubers exploring the ruins shortly before demolition. Trust me their footage is fascinating.
Stay tuned for more Spooky Spaces. We'll take a look at all kinds of abandoned, forgotten or just plain neat, places and objects.
By the way, the focus won't be on the supernatural, but I'll include any good stories that are part of the place's lore. The idea is for you give pause to your day and ya just might learn something new. (and have something other than work or family to talk about with your peers)
-Enjoy!
-Mike
Photo Credit: https://abandonedkansai.com
