2008.02.18

When I was looking for material for my article in the area around Kinryo in western Sanuki、 Assistant Official “M” sent me a note saying、 “I found an amusement park that rivals the fake Dis@#y Land in China!” Whether you want to call it information collecting or a field trip、 I headed straightaway to the scene!

My destination was a place called “Asahiyama Forest Park” in Takase. When I drove my car around behind Zouzu-san、 the mountain next to Konpira-san、 my eyes beheld a strange sight slightly elevated in front of me: a towering castle keep that held sway over the entire region before it. Aha! So that must be it! Even in the middle of udon tours various people have、 more than a few times、 pointed it out and asked、 “What is that?” But all of those time、 I always answered、 “It’s probably just the hideout of some religious cult group or something.” Or else I would laugh it off in a good humor saying、 “Maybe it’s just one of those new love hotels.” No matter what the case、 not even in my wildest dreams did I think this thing was something that Mitoyo City had jurisdiction over.”

Just as I expected、 when I climbed up to see this park at the top of the mountain、 it was a place where the stench of artificiality wafted through the air. The day I went to gather information、 there wasn’t a single person or child there、 but it was full of cherry trees and looked like it would be lively during the cherry blossom viewing season. But even given that、 what kind of theme could they possibly have been thinking of when they made this shoddy facility...?

It was exactly like the fake Dis@#y Land in China. The cartoon characters、 which looked like they had been drawn with some kind of old-fashioned menko (an old-fashioned toy for boys in Japan) and felt vaguely like you had seen them somewhere before、 were obviously made with blatant disregard for the original copyright. There was also the half-finished feel of a global theme. This is great! An imitation theme park!

Gods willing、 I hope that the park stays just as it is. Then maybe in 100 years、 we can expect the Tokyo Sports Newspaper to take it up as material for an article about mysteries of the world、 like the Nasca hieroglyphs or the Machu Picchu ruins in Peru、 and they would ask、 “Who built this? And When? And what for?” (Though right now it serves as plenty of sketchy article material as it is!)