Gulliver’s Kingdom was a unique tourist destination in Japan. Built at the foot of Mt. Fuji in Kamikuishi village, this theme park was inspired by the satirical 1726 novel Gulliver’s Travels and hoped to bring the memorable scenes to life for the millions of visitors that come to visit Mt. Fuji every year.
However, this scenic location did not come without its drawbacks. With one beautiful neighbor comes a few other challenging ones that posed their own unique obstacles for the development of the park.
Nearby is the infamous Aokigahara, or more widely recognized as Japan’s “suicide forest”. With so much grief and superstition surrounding this forest, few tourists considered the nearby theme park an appropriate place to celebrate. To make matters worse, Kamikuishi village was also the headquarters of Aum Shinrikyo doomsday cult who carried out the deadly Tokyo subway attack that killed 13 people in 1995.
The nerve gas production facility that created the gas used during this attack was also located in the area. After the compound’s forcible closure, residents from the nearby village recall that the smell of chemicals lingered in the air even as Gulliver’s Kingdom opened to the public in 1997.
With the locale’s deep rooted history in suffering and sadness, Gulliver’s Kingdom struggled financially from the beginning. With the creation of temporary construction jobs to the area, things had an optimistic start, but the park never performed to expectation. Along with this, the park only had a handful of rides — few of which captured the attention of passing tourists. Most significantly is the public’s disinterest in a theme park dedicated to a classic novel. Few visitors to Mt. Fuji cared to stop at the park, and even fewer were familiar enough with the source material to feel invested in the experience.
Just four years after Gulliver’s Kingdom opened, it was closed permanently due to low attendance and popularity. Since 2001, the property has been left behind to slowly decay — including the park’s most prominent figure, a massive 147ft-long statue of Gulliver tied to the ground by the tiny Lilliputians as explored in his first adventure in the book.
Gulliver in all his glory remained, slowly decaying with time until the park and its attractions were demolished in 2007. By that time, the giant had been painted with graffiti and had become unsalvageable. Unfortunately, the attempt to establish a theme park at the base of Mt. Fuji was a failure, forgotten or unheard of by tourists who venture to the area now.
The legacy left behind by Gulliver’s Kingdom is not all bad, however. In fact, many who had the opportunity to visit recall that the scenery and impressive scale of the Gulliver statue were eye-catching and memorable experiences. Some guests fondly remember sitting on the giant’s hand and taking in the surroundings, enjoying a day of leisure before visiting the grandiose Mt. Fuji.
Today, images and information about this bizarre piece of history are becoming scarce. But as we move ever toward the future, it is important to occasionally stop and reflect on all that came before — even something as unusual as an odd theme park! Are there any abandoned parks you’d like to learn about? Let us know in the comments!
