23 Mar 2017
Immersive anime theme park coming to Japanese island in July
BY Tom Anstey
Plans have been announced to open an anime and manga theme park on an island in Japan’s Hyogo Prefecture, with the attraction to be based on popular titles Hi no Tori (Phoenix) and Crayon Shin-chan.
Dubbed Nijigen No Mori – which translates to ‘Anime Forest’ – Pasona Group will operate the attraction in Awajishima Koen park on Awajishima island. Utilising the area’s natural beauty, along with the latest visual technologies, the attraction will take visitors into their favourite anime titles, creating what has been described as “the first immersive entertainment anime park”.
The park will be split into three distinctive zones. The first, called Mori no Zone (The Forest Zone), will feature a 1.2km-long (0.74mi) walking trail, dubbed Night Walk Hi no Tori and based on the popular manga title’s 12 books, which generally involve a search for immortality, embodied by bird of fire. Along the trail, which will be explored from sunset to approximately 10pm each night, visitors will experience a visual show created by Tezuka Productions using projection mapping, with sounds and sights beamed into the forest as they explore its depths.
The second and third zones will be based on Crayon Shin-chan – an anime and manga which follows the adventures of the five-year-old Shinnosuke "Shin" Nohara and his parents, baby sister, dog, neighbours, and friends. The first of the two attractions will be a zip-line crossing the Showa-ike pond in the park, with visual images showing water guns and streams of water shooting upwards as visitors ride. The second attraction will be an adventure course, “Bravo! Great Adventure Across The Warring States!”, which will allow visitors to explore a course of high ropes and platforms over multiple levels.
The park will also include overnight accommodation for guests, with 23 cottages and a glamping site under construction to house 80 people. Other planned attractions include a food and drink corner with refreshments based on manga and anime, a musical theatre, event stage, and other experience-based activities.
“Since 2008, Pasona Group has undertaken various regional revitalisation initiatives to attract people to Awaji Island, in cooperation with local municipalities and officials,” said a statement from the group.
“The anime park will feature an immersive style of entertainment that synthesises nature, two-dimensional media such as manga and anime, and new media art.
“Pasona Group and Hyogo Prefecture have been advancing preparations for the project, with the goal of attracting new tourism to the area by utilising its natural splendor and the globally popular Japanese manga and anime industries.”
Similar plans were announced in September 2015, when Oscar-winning filmmaker Hayao Miyazaki has revealed his ambition to create real-life versions of the landscapes from his iconic anime films, such as Spirited Away, Howl’s Moving Castle and My Neighbour Totoro with designs for a 10,000-acre (40,000sq m) nature park on on Kume Island in Okinawa. While those plans are yet to materialise, Nijigen No Mori has been set a tentative opening date of July this year.
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