# Nara Dreamland (奈良ドリームランド)
**Nara Dreamland** (奈良ドリームランド) was a theme park in Nara, Japan, opened on 1 July 1961 as a close imitation of [Disneyland](https://www.edgepedia.org/disneyland) in California and operated until its closure on 31 August 2006[1](https://coasterpedia.net/wiki/Nara_Dreamland). Built by the entrepreneur Kunizo Matsuo after a visit to the American original, it ran for 45 years, declined after the opening of the officially licensed [Tokyo Disneyland](https://www.edgepedia.org/tokyo-disneyland) in 1983, and stood abandoned as a famous urban-exploration site until its demolition in 2017[2](https://lefttotime.com/abandoned/nara-dreamland/).
| Key fact | Detail |
|---|---|
| Opened / closed | 1 July 1961 to 31 August 2006[1](https://coasterpedia.net/wiki/Nara_Dreamland) |
| Founder | Kunizo Matsuo, inspired by a visit to Disneyland in the United States[3](https://cir.nii.ac.jp/crid/1050282677716756736) |
| Peak attendance | More than 1.5 million visitors a year at its best; about 1 million a year in the 1980s[4](https://www.tokyoweekender.com/art_and_culture/celebrating-love-inside-japans-abandoned-nara-dreamland/) |
| Final attendance | About 400,000 visitors in 2006, an all-time low[5](https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/nara-dreamland) |
| Competitors | Tokyo Disneyland (1983) and Universal Studios Japan in Osaka (2001), 27 miles (44 km) away[6](https://attractioninsight.com/news/the-legacy-of-nara-dreamland-japans-first-disney-park/) |
| Signature coasters | Aska wooden roller coaster; Screw Coaster, a steel sit-down coaster by Arrow Development opened 22 July 1978[1](https://coasterpedia.net/wiki/Nara_Dreamland) |
| Demolition | Sold to SK Housing; demolition began 14 October 2016 and was completed in December 2017[2](https://lefttotime.com/abandoned/nara-dreamland/) |
## Origins and the Disney connection
The park was the brainchild of the businessman Kunizo Matsuo, who visited Disneyland in the United States in the 1950s and set out to build its copy in Japan with the desire to share the same experience with Japanese children[3](https://cir.nii.ac.jp/crid/1050282677716756736) • [4](https://www.tokyoweekender.com/art_and_culture/celebrating-love-inside-japans-abandoned-nara-dreamland/). According to Matsuo's autobiography and statements of people close to him, he met [Walt Disney](https://www.edgepedia.org/walt-disney) in 1958 and secured Disney's commitment to provide some kind of assistance in building the park; these accounts can be traced in several newspaper articles of the time, but the facts are elusive[3](https://cir.nii.ac.jp/crid/1050282677716756736). Around the same period, the Yomiuri Shimbun Corporation was also seeking Disney's cooperation for a large amusement park plan of its own[3](https://cir.nii.ac.jp/crid/1050282677716756736).
**The question of legitimacy.** A tourism-sociology study of the park describes it as a "copy" of the "original" U.S. Disneyland and examines whether any real connection existed between the creator of the original and the founders of the copy[3](https://cir.nii.ac.jp/crid/1050282677716756736). Of the 20 founders of the Dreamland Corporation, the study takes particular interest in Masaichi Nagata, president of the Daiei Motion Picture Company, who had acquired Disney's film distribution rights during a 1949 visit to the United States, engaged in Disney character licensing, and later helped promote Tokyo Disneyland under agreement with Walt Disney Company headquarters[7](https://ndlsearch.ndl.go.jp/books/R000000004-I026731298). While recruiting investors, Nagata claimed he had introduced Matsuo to his close friend "Walt" and that Matsuo had acquired Disney's permission to open a reproduction in Japan. The study concludes that Nagata's name on the founders' list and his active support were probably enough to convince people that the park was an official reproduction rather than a copy, making his role akin to that of an "apparent representative"[7](https://ndlsearch.ndl.go.jp/books/R000000004-I026731298).
The dominant later view held that the park was an unofficial imitation, one that hindered efforts years later to open the official Disneyland in Tokyo, and the park was also criticized for having ruined valuable historical sites featured in ancient manyo waka poems[3](https://cir.nii.ac.jp/crid/1050282677716756736).
## Design and operation
The park's design hewed close to Disneyland's: it opened with a castle gate evoking fairy tales, a Main Street lined with American-looking shops, a Skyway gondola ride, a steam train modeled on the [Disneyland Railroad](https://www.edgepedia.org/disneyland-railroad) that looped the grounds, and an Adventureland featuring a jungle cruise.[2](https://lefttotime.com/abandoned/nara-dreamland/) The encircling railroad followed a standard feature of Disneyland parks worldwide, one that Tokyo Disneyland itself would omit, and reflected the founder's love of trains; the majestic railway station building at the entrance is said to have been designed by a famous architect who accompanied Matsuo on his U.S. trip[7](https://ndlsearch.ndl.go.jp/books/R000000004-I026731298).
When the licensing arrangement with Disney fell through, Matsuo Entertainment Company had to create original characters, so instead of Mickey and Minnie guests were greeted by Ran-chan and Dori-chan, two children in soldier suits and bearskin caps[4](https://www.tokyoweekender.com/art_and_culture/celebrating-love-inside-japans-abandoned-nara-dreamland/). A second park, Yokohama Dreamland, opened in 1964[4](https://www.tokyoweekender.com/art_and_culture/celebrating-love-inside-japans-abandoned-nara-dreamland/).
## Decline and closure
Through the 1960s and 1970s the park was successful, drawing more than 1.5 million visitors a year at its peak, and it remained Japan's closest equivalent to a real Disneyland[4](https://www.tokyoweekender.com/art_and_culture/celebrating-love-inside-japans-abandoned-nara-dreamland/) • [8](https://www.laughingplace.com/w/news/2023/01/20/nara-dreamland-side-by-side/). The opening of Tokyo Disneyland in 1983 began the decline; about a million guests still visited Nara Dreamland each year in the 1980s[4](https://www.tokyoweekender.com/art_and_culture/celebrating-love-inside-japans-abandoned-nara-dreamland/). Attendance worsened further when [Universal Studios Japan](https://www.edgepedia.org/universal-studios-japan) opened in Osaka in 2001, just 27 miles (44 km) away, and by 2006 attendance had fallen to about 400,000, an all-time low[6](https://attractioninsight.com/news/the-legacy-of-nara-dreamland-japans-first-disney-park/) • [5](https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/nara-dreamland). The park closed on 31 August 2006; Yokohama [Dreamland](https://www.edgepedia.org/dreamland) had closed four years earlier[1](https://coasterpedia.net/wiki/Nara_Dreamland) • [4](https://www.tokyoweekender.com/art_and_culture/celebrating-love-inside-japans-abandoned-nara-dreamland/).
After closure, the owners stopped paying property taxes and the park became the property of the municipal government[4](https://www.tokyoweekender.com/art_and_culture/celebrating-love-inside-japans-abandoned-nara-dreamland/).
## Abandonment and demolition
For eleven years the park stood essentially as it had been on the closing day, with rides in place, the castle retaining its paint, and signage still advertising prices and hours[2](https://lefttotime.com/abandoned/nara-dreamland/). It became a mecca for lovers of haikyo, the Japanese practice of exploring abandoned buildings, despite two layers of chain-link fence topped with barbed wire, security patrols, and fines for trespassers[4](https://www.tokyoweekender.com/art_and_culture/celebrating-love-inside-japans-abandoned-nara-dreamland/). Its empty Main Street and silent rides spread around the world in photographs, making it one of the most-photographed abandoned theme parks of the period[2](https://lefttotime.com/abandoned/nara-dreamland/).
In 2016 the land was sold to SK Housing and demolition was announced. Demolition began on 14 October 2016 and was completed on 21 December 2017; the castle, the wooden Aska coaster, and the steel Screw Coaster were among the last principal structures removed, and no original structures remain on the partially redeveloped site[2](https://lefttotime.com/abandoned/nara-dreamland/).
## Assessment
The academic study of the park frames it as a negative legacy and a symbol that Japan, in the years the park was being developed, had not yet reached the level of social maturity that ensured the protection of intellectual property rights[7](https://ndlsearch.ndl.go.jp/books/R000000004-I026731298). The same study argues that the park nevertheless had a significant impact on numerous aspects of Tokyo Disneyland, from its planning and establishment to its designs, and that the desolate park, in particular the unrenovated station building of the park-encircling railroad, merits recognition as industrial heritage representative of the Japanese theme park industry[7](https://ndlsearch.ndl.go.jp/books/R000000004-I026731298).
## References
1. [Nara Dreamland, Coasterpedia](https://coasterpedia.net/wiki/Nara_Dreamland)
2. [Nara Dreamland: Japan's Abandoned Disneyland-Style Park, Left to Time](https://lefttotime.com/abandoned/nara-dreamland/)
3. [遊園地における虚構性の研究：観光社会学からみた奈良ドリームランドの「本物」「ニセモノ」論, CiNii Research](https://cir.nii.ac.jp/crid/1050282677716756736)
4. [Celebrating Love Inside Japan's Abandoned Nara Dreamland, Tokyo Weekender](https://www.tokyoweekender.com/art_and_culture/celebrating-love-inside-japans-abandoned-nara-dreamland/)
5. [Nara Dreamland, Atlas Obscura](https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/nara-dreamland)
6. [The Legacy of Nara Dreamland, Japan's First "Disney" Park, Attraction Insight](https://attractioninsight.com/news/the-legacy-of-nara-dreamland-japans-first-disney-park/)
7. [遊園地における虚構性の研究, NDLサーチ (彦根論叢 第404号, pp. 64-79)](https://ndlsearch.ndl.go.jp/books/R000000004-I026731298)
8. [New Side By Side Comparison Reminds Fans How Similar Nara Dreamland Was To Original Disneyland, Laughing Place](https://www.laughingplace.com/w/news/2023/01/20/nara-dreamland-side-by-side/)
---
*Topic: Encyclopedia › Sports, games, and recreation › Individual sports and outdoor recreation*
*Initially written Sep 17, 2026 · Reviewed: Sep 18, 2026; Oct 21, 2026 · Edited: Sep 18, 2026; Oct 21, 2026 · Last review: Oct 21, 2026*
*Copyright 2026 EdgeChat AI, a subsidiary of Biostate AI.*
License: Edgepedia Community License 1.0, https://www.edgepedia.org/edgepedia/license