No one does escapism quite like the Japanese, and the most creative ways to escape can be found in Tokyo. This is a city where stress, and finding ways to shake it off, are a part of daily life. The theme parks in and around Tokyo are prime examples of Japan’s excellent diversions, mostly erected during Japan’s 1980s economic bubble.
Today there are 20 theme parks remaining in the vicninity of Tokyo; the indoor ocean and ski-field, alas, both closed for business. One of these though -- Tokyo Disneyland -- is the third most-attended theme park in the world. According to the 2009 Theme Index, a report on global attractions and their attendance, over 13 million people visited Tokyo Disneyland in 2009, a 4 percent decrease from the previous year. But that decrease will do little to damage the profits of the Disney empire. Instead it’s the smaller, more eccentric theme parks that are threatened by the current financial crisis.
Plus, the huge theme park developments across Asia (particularly China) are nearing completion, which will likely lead to fewer Asian tourists visiting Tokyo. Theme parks that are not visited die, and if you look in the right places you can see the evidence -- parks abandoned and overgrown as haikyo (ruins). Here are five of these outsider theme parks, resisting their fate with panache; eccentric parks that have heart, charm and elicit real nostalgia for a time when Tokyo had more money than it knew what to do with and when life seemed a little simpler.
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