page 4
by Jan Boonstra
Restaurant in a full scale model of an old Dutch ship;
everywhere along the road the historic ties with The Netherlands
were demonstrated.
11.07.93
My plan was to cycle up to Nagasaki today and to take my time tomorrow
to visit all the historic sites that linked the city with my own
country. The most important stopping point would be the "Dutch Village", a park
with full scale imitations of famous and typical buildings in The
Netherlands.
That was as much as I knew. The "Dutch Village" seemed not to
be in Nagasaki City and there are 2 such parks in this region, the
other one is called "Huis ten Bosch" and is far more bigger. Today
I have seen road signs to "Huis ten Bosch", because of the name obviously
a tourist attraction with a Dutch theme. But I did not
know what it was and how far it was from my road, so I did not go there.
But the smaller one, "Dutch Village", I could not miss because my road
to Nagasaki went past this place, still 30 kms from the city.
I still had 2½ hours before it would close and there was a small
hotel next to the park, so I quickly made up my mind and decided to
stay here and visit the park straight away.
the V.O.C. ship. .
The background of this obsession with The Netherlands is that for centuries, the only contact that the Japanese had with the rest of the world was through the Dutch, the only foreigners that were allowed in Japan. They were however only allowed to access a small island in the harbour of Nagasaki.
In "Holland Village" there is a full scale reproduction of an ancient Dutch ship and there are full scale copies of parts of the towns of Hoorn and Willemstad. Then there are streets with houses and shops that are so faithfully reproduced, that I really got the feeling that I was walking through a historic part of a town at home. Signboards and such things were in Dutch, but further explanation on billboards was given in Japanese. There was a church there and according to the explanation next to it, the real thing was located somewhere in the north of The Netherlands. Being from the north myself I was curious and I asked a park employee to read the name of the place and he could tell me without an accent: Donkerbroek.
In front of the church of Donkerbroek.
The entrance fee to "Holland Village" was about US$ 30, the beverages
were expensive and because it was hot and I was thirsty, altogether I spent
a lot of money today.
Besides Delft-blue earthenware, wooden shoes and windmills, you could also buy Dutch language picture postcards with greetings from various places in The Netherlands. Also there was original Dutch cake, cheese and chocolate. I saw a bar of chocolate of my favourite brand, it was very cheap; even cheaper then a cup of (Japanese) coffee next door. While writing this in the evening, I am enjoying my chocolate.
There was a Dutch musician, who could produce very nice music out of
a funny machine, he built himself. He had a contract for 5 months
for his entertainment.
He told me that in "Holland Village" he was the only entertainer and that
in "Huis Ten Bosch" there are about 50.
Also he told me that "Huis Ten Bosch" was about 10 times the size of this park and that complete parts of old Dutch towns were rebuilt, even the highest church tower of The Netherlands, the Dom of Utrecht.
In fact, I was already impressed by "Holland Village". but then I saw photographs of "Huis Ten Bosch" and that must be really fantastic and unbelieveble.
View of a part of "Holland Village".
