Foreign country theme parks: a new theme or an old Japanese pattern?

Abstract

This paper addresses the subject of Japanese tema paku, or 'theme parks', which represent foreign countries, but it argues from the outset that these gaikoku mura ('foreign villages') are a more sophisticated form of cultural display than the English title would suggest. Drawing on a somewhat experimental anthropological approach, which is explained in the body of the paper, it seeks to identify common features in a variety of examples, and these are then examined both in a global perspective and in the context of local Japanese historical and cultural influences. It is argued that the parks are more comparable with museums and world fairs than with post-modern interpretations of Disneyland, but there are also precursors in Japanese gardens and other arts that make them an especially interesting site for further serious anthropological analysis.