Nara Dreamland was supposed to be just as its name denotes: a land of dreams. But the dream of a Japanese kabuki artist would swiftly turn into a nightmare. How did it all go so wrong?
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ToggleThe Original Tokyo Disneyland
Disneyland is phenomenally popular in Japan. The park is an attraction not just for kids and families, but for adults, who routinely venture in groups as a mini-vacation.
According to official statistics, Tokyo Disneyland has a 90% repeat business rate - a stat that any entertainment complex would kill for. The reason for this ridiculous popularity seems to be a dream-team combination of Disney charm and Japanese omotenashi, or customer service. Indeed, the customer service at Japan Disneyland is so famous that multiple management authors have written books on the subject.
But Disney was a latecomer to Japanese shores. The company’s first installation was a small set of attractions at the original Mitsukoshi department store in Tokyo run by OrientalLand, Disney’s official corporation in Japan. What we now know as Disneyland Tokyo didn’t open until 1983.

A Licensing Deal Gone Bad
This dinky presence wasn’t enough for Kabuki artist and entertainment entrepreneur Matsuo Kunizou. Matsuo began drawing up business and design plans for a park that he hoped would become a full-scale Japan Disneyland. In its video below, Defunctland (English video) relates that Kunizou teamed up with Walt Disney, and the two planned to bring the wonders of Disneyland to the city of Nara until the deal fell apart over a licensing dispute. [1]
However, according to Wikipedia, which cites reliable histories on Disney Japan as its sources, the story is a lot more complicated. Disney was never actually on board with the idea of a “Japanese Disneyland” [2]:
当初米国ディズニー社は本気に受け取っておらず、「その時が来たら力になる。」と回答。しかし松尾が技術者を連れて再び訪れた事で松尾の熱意に打たれたウォルト・ディズニーは、ディズニーランドのノウハウ(実際には単なる遊園地経営のノウハウだった)を無償で与え、建設時にもディズニーランド側から技術者を派遣させたという[4]。なお、この無償のノウハウ提供と技術者派遣は日本にディズニーランドを作る目的ではなく、あくまでも日本人が日本に独自の遊園地を作ることに協力するという目的であった。
The American Disney Company didn’t really take up the idea, and responded, “We’ll help you out when that times comes”. But Walt Disney was struck by Matsuo’s enthusiasm when he visited again and brought along engineers, and agreed to give his know-how (in reality the know-how associated with managing an amusement park) for free, and dispatched engineers to the construction site. Furthermore, the goal of offering this know-how for free and dispatching engineers wasn’t to create a Disneyland in Japan, but to help the Japanese themselves build an amusement park that was unique to Japan.
Matsuo’s company later told the press that licensing fees were the reason the “Disneyland” deal was scrapped. The Disney Company refused to make any official comment.
Enter Nara Dreamland
Matsuo’s company was now in a tough spot. They had explicitly designed this theme park and modeled it after Disneyland under the delusion that Disney would eventually license naming and character rights to them. Left without a corporate sponsor, Matsuo Entertainment re-branded its park to Nara Dreamland, and proceeded with plans to opens its doors. It’s reported that when Kagami Toshio, the head of OrientalLand, saw photos of the park, he hit the roof and exclaimed, “I’ll never trust that guy [Matsuo] again!”
Nara Dreamland was built on part of what used to be a former site for the 25th Infantry Division of the US Occupying Forces. It was divided into five areas: Land of the Future (未来の国; mirai no kuni), Land of Illusion (妄想の国; mousou no kuni), Land of Adventure (冒険の国; bouken no kuni), Land of the Past (過去の国; kako no kuni) and Main Street. Attractions consisted of things such as a “park” of fictitious animals, a bobsled slide around a mountain, and an actual submerging submarine ride.
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Rough Times for Nara Dreamland
Dreamland was anything but a fleeting dream; it would continue robust operations for the next 20 years. But as other parks began to spring up in other areas, Dreamland found itself increasingly competing for business. After Disney’s full-scale arrival in 1983, the knock-off’s fortunes plummeted. Attendance shrank to one million people a year, and the harsh economic conditions led to the park falling into disrepair. When Tokyo Disney Sea and Universal Studios Japan opened in 2001, the park’s attendance crashed to just 400,000 people per year.
This video from a Japanese YouTuber shows the park in 2000. Attendance seems sparse, and the buildings are obviously aging.
2000年の奈良ドリームランド
2006年に閉園した奈良ドリームランド。その閉園前の様子をどうぞ!
The park finally shuttered its doors on August 31st, 2006. Blogger Mostly a Cat Diary, Sometimes Curry (ほぼ猫日記、時々カレー), a resident of Osaka, recorded his memories of the park in a journal written a day after it shuttered. [3]
拙者はここには小学校の頃に1回行っただけなのですがすごく楽しかった記憶が残っております。 拙者が行った時はまだ大阪万博も開幕しておらず関西でこれほどの規模の遊園地は他になかったのでござるよ。 まさに夢の国に行くようなものでした。
I only went once when I was in elementary school, but the joyous memories still linger. When I went, the Osaka World’s Fair had not yet happened, and there was no other park like this in Kansai [the region of Japan that includes Osaka]. It was truly like going to a dream country.
The Ghost of Dreamlands Past
When the park was closed, the owners didn’t bother to clean anything up; they simply left it as it is. After eight years, the dead park becomes an attraction in its own right.
In 2014, the Japanese news entertainment program Miyaneya (ミヤネ屋) produced a walkthrough of the Dreamland Ghost Town, sparking a largely nostalgic Twitterstorm from citizens. Others, viewing the wreckage of the park, lamented that no one would ever buy such a mess. By their estimation, it would probably continue to rot for years to come.
Foreigners eventually cottoned onto the eerie Death Park. Some trespassed onto the property in order to get good material for YouTube. [4]
The Land of Lost Dreams began receiving so much attention from local and foreign tourists that residents and police began complaining to the city. After all, it was only a matter of time before some jack-ass fell through the floorboards or toppled off the remnants of a roller coaster and made headlines. But getting rid of Dreamland was no small feat.
Reclamation
Several years back, the city of Nara seized control of the park from its owners as payment for back taxes. It then attempted to put the lot up for auction. The city received zero bids. The driving factors? Costs and regulations. [5]
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だが、跡地には約30の遊具のほか、立体駐車場など75の建物が放置されたままで、数億円とみられる撤去費用は落札者負担。さらに、跡地は市街化調整区域や風致地区に指定されているため、建設できるのは医療施設や社会福祉施設、学校、スポーツ施設などに限られる。
テーマパークとしての再利用は可能だが、改めて建造物を建てるには、現在の市条例により、10メートル以下の建造物しか建てられない。
But the removal costs associated with disposal of the 30 attractions and the disposal of 75 buildings, including a multi-story garage, that were left behind as is will fall on the bidder. But because the area is designated as a regulated development area and a scenic site, the only facilities than can be built there are things such as medical facilities, social welfare facilities, schools, and sports grounds.
While the land could be repurposed as a theme park, current city regulations limit the height of buildings to 10 meters.
In November 2015, Nara finally found a bidder: SK Housing, who offered ¥730,000,000 (around USD $7.3 million). The reclamation process began in 2016. However, at the time of the bidding, the company confessed it had no actual plan to clean up the lot, and no idea what it would put it its place.
At least for now, the Ghost of Good Times Past no longer haunts the gorgeous city of Nara’s landscape, beckoning hungry YouTubers to their potential doom.
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Sources
[1] Defunctland: The History of Nara Dreamland. https://youtu.be/iU6GCosr_NM
[2] 奈良ドリームランド. https://bit.ly/3lHpJ0W
[3] 奈良ドリームランド. https://blog.goo.ne.jp/cherry-g8/e/a863941510f41155ba4cf4acfd3a6888
[4] Abandoned Disneyland Knock-Off – Nara Dreamland Theme Park Exploration. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_SN8pGTw8ys
[5] 奈良ドリームランド跡地落札、30の遊具、75の建物…撤去費用は数億円 落札会社「どう再開発するか決まっていない」. https://www.sankei.com/article/20151110-SDPWCKB4GZMRZIA3NGSF2EMQVE/