Huis Ten Bosch is a theme park in Nagasaki that recreates a Dutch town. What a strange concept for a theme park. Somehow it exists and its one of the most bizarre, yet most beautiful places to visit in Japan.
We stayed in Fukuoka close to Hakata Station and was able to get to Huis Ten Bosch in about 2 and half hours via the dedicated train marked with the Huis Ten Bosch emblem. These trains run every hour in the morning and become more sparse as the day gets dark.
On arriving at the Huis Ten Bosch station, we were greeted to this scene below.
The theme park is very picturesque. There are heaps of flowers, cute dioramas and Dutch-like buildings. There are plenty of places to go to get some awesome photos with your better half.
I think many days will be almost clear of visitors as I suspect this part of Japan is as popular and its not an easy place to get to.
On the day we went, there was only a trickle of people. In the back of my mind was, how on earth does this place survive with the trickle of people visiting. It’s definitely not like the crowds you see at theme parks like Universal Studios or Disneyland.
There are various ‘worlds’ to visit, but we didn’t feel the need to rush for any attraction. Like us, you will be bound to get on any attraction within 15 mins. I recommend taking the time to take some photos in the sunlight and just enjoy the clean surrounds.
Below is a building dedicated to their teddy bear with a beautiful chubby house and garden in the front yard.
The flower road with the windmills is a gorgeous row of colors. It is so perfectly curated and beautiful. I was surprised by how perfect the rows were and how well they had been maintained.
Walking around the theme park, you will just see many odd things. I think many odd things make for interesting photos. Take this section below called ‘umbrella street’ for instance.
There is a Final Fantasy inspired attraction called Bahamut Disco. It is the same Bahamut from Final Fantasy XIV. The attraction is a game where you are taken into a dark room with projectors and play a rhythm game with their PlayStation ‘move’-esque controllers. It was heaps of fun, but there wasn’t anything Final Fantasy-like about the attraction. I had never heard the songs we played to.
In one of the buildings near Bahamut Disco is an arcade for virtual reality simulations. The simulations were very basic and didn’t seem too appealing. But there were an abundance of different options to choose from, virtual zombie survivor game to skiing down a mountain. There was an indoor virtual reality roller coaster that felt like you were about to go on a proper roller coaster because it had way too many safety instructions for what turned out to be a very thriller-less ride. We literally sat in our seats with a virtual reality headset while the vehicle moved and shook very meekly.
In the spooky area of the theme park, there is a haunted hospital that you can walk through. The hospital is definitely eerie and may give you a jump scare. It was a decent length and gets pitch black in some parts. If you ever played Valve’s Left 4 Dead video games, you may get worried when you start hearing a spine tingling threat crying as you walk through this hospital. If you like scary, give this a go.
There are heaps of open areas in the theme park. You can even tell from my photos how empty this place is.
You can climb up one of their attractions to get a bird’s eye view of the entire theme park. It’s worth doing since its part of your ticket.
There are plenty of kid friendly activities in the wooden fantasy area with dinosaurs, etc and a port area with Namco Bandai arcade machines.
Overall, my impression of Huis Ten Bosch was that it was beautiful. It was curated to perfection and everything was clean and elegant. You could have a wonderful stroll through this theme park and feel like you were in Europe. Yet there was a sense of uneasiness in the back of my mind during my visit as I became concerned about whether this theme park would last another year with such low numbers. Maybe you can make a difference. The ticket prices for Huis Ten Bosch is cheap and all the attractions are included in the ticket price.
We took the train back to Fukuoka. We managed to get a direct train somehow back to Hakata Station. There we decided to have ramen for dinner at Shin Shin. You just have to get their Hakata Ramen and you are set. I believe this store is a franchise and you can find them all over Fukuoka.
I made sure to get the extra pork belly slices. Yum!
At night, we decided to relax and visit Karaoke Room, Jankara. It was super affordable and there were heaps of English songs to choose from. We also had drinks provided as they are included in any room hire at this venue.
Tune in next time for Day 8 – Fukuoka to Nagasaki – 26 June 2019.
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