Wow Place #325: Noboribetsu Date Jidai Village, Hokkaido, Japan

When traveling, there are days when you consciously seek out enlightenment, inspiration and education. These are “serious” days…days when your intention is to improve yourself, to make yourself a better person.

This is not one of those days.

Noboribetsu Date Jidai Village is a very silly place. Parents undoubtedly convince themselves that they’re teaching their kids about Japanese history here. The kiddos know better. Jidai Village is a place to goof off, eat crappy theme park food, and watch ninjas and samurais battle it out with sticks and swords.

Needless to say, I love it.

Opened in 1992, Noboribetsu Date Jidai Village is described as a history theme park, intended to recreate Japan’s Edo-period (1603-1867) through architecture and costumed performers. Founded by Daishinto Corporation, its “purpose” is to serve as a “living museum,” offering immersive cultural experiences and historical reenactments.

This being Japan, the park has some fairly high-minded aims, namely to “highlight the social structure and collective spirit of the Edo era, contributing to a better society by promoting historical wisdom.” According to the company’s CEO, Jidaimura’s guiding principle is “Edo is the answer” –reflecting a commitment to “contribute to a better society through the wisdom of the Edo period.”

I wonder how you say “Poppycock” in Japanese?

It’s hard to take Jidaimura too seriously when you’re greeted at the gate by both an actor dressed in a samurai outfit and a costumed dog/cat character with a shaved samurai head. Think “Hello Kitty Shogun.” It gets even sillier as the day goes on.

There are, of course, the requisite ninja shows, both indoors and outdoors, with choreographed fight scenes accompanied by an audio effects soundtrack straight out of an old Batman Episode. “Pow!” “Wham!” “Bang!” every time a stick comes into contact with an actor’s body part. Tons of secret ninja doors opening and shutting. Many (many!) slow-mo kicks to the characters’ “family jewels.”

Three Stooges humor, it seems, spans both the cultural void and the void of time.

Interestingly, at the end of the show, spectators are encouraged to wrap coins in a small piece of paper distributed to each attendee, and then toss their packets at the stage. Apparently, this was how tipping was done back in the Edo era.

With time limited, I pass on the two other “cultural” shows, featuring music, dance, and “traditional comedy,” whatever that is. I didn’t come here to learn something!

No, what interests me are three specific themed houses: 1) Ninja Maze 2) Goblin Cat Temple 3) House of Monsters

Ninja Maze is exactly what is sounds like—a self-guided walk through a ninja house, with tricky doors leading to dead ends, slanted floors to keep you off balance, and the occasional mannequin enacting a funny scene… like the door leading to a ninja on the toilet. Again, more Three Stooges stuff.

The Goblin Cat Temple and the House of Monsters pay homage to the Japanese tradition of ghost stories. They both feature small, old-school dioramas of ghostly scenes, activated with a press of a button. Here a mannequin woman sits placidly in a traditional room and then suddenly realizes her neck is growing, and growing, and growing, like a haunted giraffe. There sit three monks praying before an altar. When you push a button, however, the altar rocks back and forth as if possessed by demons. The coup de grace: the monks’ heads rotate towards you, Exorcist-style, with each face sporting a giant eye smack in the forehead. Very Twilight Zone-esque.

To give Jidai Village credit, it does provide an assortment of opportunities to learn about Japan’s early culture and history. Kids can play traditional Edo-style shooting and ring-toss games. They can dress up in old-style garb, paint wooden kokeshi dolls or spinning tops, explore replicas of samurai and ninja residences, and view a gallery of old swords and knives.

But for this grizzled, 62-year-old ninja wannabe, it’s not about the learning; it’s all about the silliness, and I wouldn’t have it any other way.

(The older we get, the easier it is to fall into our routines, our patterns. We know our comfort zones – our gardens, our podcasts, our favorite cups of tea. And we seek them out with vigor. But at what cost? Sometimes we need to break out of our habits and do something uncomfortable, something non-routine, something just plain silly. What can you do this week that people might say, “Hmm, that’s just not like them at all”? Go toss a frisbee in the park. Walk around your neighborhood in a silly hat. Dress up as a ninja. Throw care (and comfort) to the wind. Go for it!)