Huis Ten Bosch (theme park)

Huis Ten Bosch (ハウステンボス, Hausu Ten Bosu) is a theme park in Sasebo, Nagasaki, Japan which recreates the Netherlands by displaying life-sized copies of old Dutch buildings. The name Huis Ten Bosch translates into English as "House at the Woods/bush". It is named after Huis ten Bosch in The Hague, one of the three official residences of the Dutch Royal Family.

For other uses, see Huis ten Bosch (disambiguation).
Huis Ten Bosch

Overview
Replica of De Liefde which was the first Dutch ship to reach Japan in 1600 with William Adams and Jan Joosten

The park features many Dutch-style buildings such as hotels, villas, theatres, museums, shops and restaurants, along with canals, windmills, amusement rides, and a park planted in seasonal flowers. Huis Ten Bosch, which opened on March 25, 1992, is located around 12km southeast of Sasebo. It's on Hario Island, essentially an area of reclaimed marshland on the main coastline of Kyushu facing Ōmura Bay. Its location in this area of the country reflects historical relations between the Netherlands and Japan,[1] which began in 1609 when a trading post was opened by the Dutch in Hirado, an island off the coast of Kyushu around 35km northwest of central Sasebo. The Huis Ten Bosch park is open daily from 9.00 a.m. to 9.30 p.m. (9.00 a.m. to 8.30 p.m. from December to February). A day "passport" ticket, covering entry and a number of attractions within the park costs 5,600 yen for adults and 4,400 yen for children. The park can be reached by JR train or bus from Nagasaki. It can also be reached by boat from Nagasaki Airport or from Sasebo.

The park recorded the peak of 4.25 million visitors in 1996. However, due to the fall of the number of visitors caused by economic slump in Japan, the park declared bankruptcy in 2003 with debt of 220 billion yen.[2] The rebuilding plan was sponsored by Nomura Principal Finance Company until March 2010, when H.I.S., a travel agency, took over the management by injecting 2 billion yen.[3]

In 2015, the Henna Hotel ("Strange Hotel") opened on site. It is the world's first hotel staffed by robots, although humans will initially work alongside them.[4]

References
  1. "Huis ten Bosch" Radio Netherlands Archives 24 September 1994
  2. Ken Belson (2003-02-27). "A Japanese Theme Park Company Fails - New York Times". Nytimes.com. Retrieved 2013-06-10.
  3. "H.I.S. to take over troubled Huis Ten Bosch park". Asahi Shimbun. Sasebo, Nagasaki Prefecture: Asahi.com. 13 February 2010. Archived from the original on 3 October 2012. Retrieved 2013-06-10.
  4. Renee Lewis (February 5, 2015). "Hotel staffed by robots to open in Japan". Al Jazeera America. Retrieved October 18, 2015.

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