Another Haikyo: Gulliver’s Final Resting Place

One of the most interesting Haikyo (=abandoned places or ruins in Japanese) was the entertainment park “Gulliver’s Kingdom”. I was lucky enough to spend a day in the abandoned park before it got demolished and replaced with a golf course.

Just next to Mt. Fuji used to be an abandoned entertainment park called “Gullivers Kingdom” including a 45-metre model of Gulliver himself.

Close to Mt. Fuji is a small village called Kamikuishiki in the Yamanashi Prefecture, which used to be the main commune of the Aum sect and the place where the poisoned chemical Sarin for the gas attack on Tokyo’s subway in 1995 was produced.

After the attack the village tried to rescue its reputation and a entertainment park based on Gulliver, Jonathan Swift’s 18th Century literary creation was planned and opened in 1997. Unfortunately the park attracted more visitors who could not care less about Gulliver and his 45-metre model lying on his back in front of Mt. Fuji, but wanted to go where the evil started and the theme park staff regularly got asked where exactly the commune was located and where the Sarin gas produced.

The park was no success and after the bank which financed the park got bankrupt, the park had to be closed in October 2001 and became a slowly rotting ruin.

This map shows how huge the park used to be, it contained several restaurants, some smaller rides, cinemas and theaters, a bowling alley and a huge bob slide.

Beautifully placed next to Mt.Fuji and decorated with strange fantasy statues, related to Gullivers travels. Unfortunately the Gulliver story was not very well known in Japan.

One of the smaller rides in pretty good condition, almost ready to go.

Mt.Fuji in the background of the central market place.

The main attraction still was the 45-metre big Gulliver statue…

…with his face already “defaced”.

My Haikyo buddy on top of Gulliver shows how huge this statue used to be.

View from the top.

Another view from the top.

Inside one of the buildings I found a small-scale statue of Gulliver, with a “RIP” graffiti on his face.

The entrance to the Gulliver museum.

Some restaurants on the other side had a fantastic view over the entire park.

The bob slide.

Two more views with the bob slide in the foreground and the entire village in the background.

The main entrance seen from the park side.

And a rare sight, an abandoned escalator inside the main entrance to the park.

The main entrance to the park from the outside.

The park was not only big, it was – for an abandoned place – also in extremely good condition. Except some natural damage and some graffiti here and there, they could had re-opened it after a short cleaning period. The buildings and restaurants also still had their entire collection of dishes and glasses and there were even some old computers and monitors – nobody bothered to steal them.

Today the park is gone and replaced with another golf course, so my pictures are now historic documents.