Teleportation Realised: How Japanese travel ‘abroad’ without leaving home

“Huis Ten Bosch” is a sprawling theme park in the southern Japanese city of Nagasaki. It provides a stunningly accurate depiction of a traditional Dutch town, down to the last tulip. The hotels, shops, theatres and restaurants are all faithful replicas of those found in Holland and the park, which covers an area the size of Monaco, attracts millions of visitors every year. And while Huis Ten Bosch may be the largest “foreign town” in Japan, it is far from the only one.

A German village has been recreated in Chiba Prefecture, just outside Tokyo; a replica of a Spanish town is a big draw for visitors to Mie Prefecture; British Hills is an enclave of tea and etiquette in Fukushima Prefecture; an American Village is popular with locals and expats alike in Okinawa; and a number of Japanese cities are also home to bustling Chinatowns, notably Yokohama, Kobe and Nagasaki.

The replica towns are perfect for Japanese who want to experience other countries and cultures but are not able to. For some, travel plans have been curtailed for financial reasons or because of the coronavirus pandemic over the last two years, while there are others who are a bit nervous about stepping outside of their domestic comfort zone.

If Japanese cannot go to Germany, England or the US, Japan’s theme park developers have brought abroad closer to home.

“It’s a huge park and we have many attractions all through the year,” said Naoko Kurosawa from The Country Farm Tokyo German Village in Sodegaura city, east of Tokyo. “In the summer, we have a lot of flowers in the park, and because we are so close to Tokyo, that is where a lot of our visitors are from.” “Lots of people have not been able to have proper holidays for two summers now, and no one has been going to other countries, so coming here is a sort of escape,” Korosawa told DW.

The park has a zoo, an area for visitors with dogs, play areas for children, mini-golf, a big wheel, shops and restaurants selling German cuisine, including pretzels, sausages and schnitzel, all washed down with a good selection of German beers. About 90 minutes north of Tokyo by train is a recreation of another European way of life, with British Hills describing itself as “The Britain that anyone can visit without a passport.”

Set up in 1994, the facility is open to day-trippers and has hotels for guests, but its primary aim is to provide immersive classes in English language and culture, down to ordering tea and scones in the Ascot Tea Room or a pint in the authentic surroundings of The Falstaff pub.

“A lot of Japanese people relate to Britain, and the two countries have a lot of similarities, such as both having a monarchy, a more conservative outlook, a focus on manners and being polite and a long history,” said Zain Abba, the manager of the facility. “I also think that a lot of people with that affinity for England are frustrated that they have not been able to travel there this year, so British Hills can give them a taste of it without even having to leave the country,” he told DW.