CNN.com - Nagasaki's Dutch theme falters
Japan's Huis Ten Bosch replicated a 17th century Dutch village Story Tools |
TOKYO, Japan (Reuters) -- The operator of a once-popular Japanese theme park that replicated a 17th century Dutch village has gone bust, becoming one of the largest resort projects to fail after the bursting of Japan's bubble economy.
Huis Ten Bosch Co has filed for bankruptcy with liabilities of 229 billion yen ($1.95 billion), making it Japan's largest theme park related failure.
The problems of the Huis Ten Bosch theme park located in the historical Dutch enclave of Nagasaki Prefecture on the southern Japan island of Kyushu could also deal a serious blow to the region's troubled economy.
Kyushu had already seen the operator of the Seagaia Ocean Dome -- a symbol of the excesses of Japan's 1980's bubble economy with its artificial beach and made-to-order waves -- go bust in 2001 with 326.1 billion yen in debts.
While Seagaia had seen its prospects questioned from the start, Huis Ten Bosch, which roughly means "House in the Forest" in Dutch, initially enjoyed a solid surge in visitors after opening in March 1992 at a cost of $2.5 billion.
The park's painstakingly detailed efforts to recreate the buildings, canals and scenery of a 17th century Dutch village initially proved to be a good draw of tourists to the Nagasaki area.
Early trade gateway
Huis Ten Bosch also built on the Nagasaki area's history as Japan's sole gateway for international trade from 1639 to the late 1850s, a time when the Dutch were allowed a trading post on the small island of Dejima while almost all other foreigners were shut out.
But the project also suffered from typical bubble era excesses, with the operator importing the bricks for many of the buildings directly from Holland to insure authenticity.
When Huis Ten Bosch saw its customer numbers plunge in the latter half of the 1990s amid increased competition from other facilities, a drop in visitors from other Asian nations and a sputtering Japanese economy, it found itself in deep trouble.
The company was forgiven debts of 53 billion yen by the former Industrial Bank of Japan -- now part of Mizuho Holdings, the world's largest bank by assets -- in 2000 and 2001.
But the debt forgiveness, asset sales and job cuts were not enough to revive Huis Ten Bosch, which also featured hotels, cottages, restaurants, museums and other amusement facilities.
The park operator's failure also turned the spotlight on its main creditor, Mizuho, which played down any impact on the bank's bottom line.
Mizuho said Wednesday that the bankruptcy would have no effect on its forecasts for the year to March 31, despite estimating that its unit Mizuho Corporate Bank had 102.33 billion yen in outstanding loans to Huis Ten Bosch that might not be recovered.
The banking giant is already forecasting it will post the biggest group net loss in Japanese corporate history in 2002-03.
Despite Mizuho's statement, Huis Ten Bosch's failure helped push Mizuho's shares down to a seven-week low of 98,600 yen at one point Wednesday.
Mizuho ended trading down 6.54 percent at 100,000 yen. The Nikkei average eased down 0.04 percent.
The banking giant said it was prepared to extend the necessary support, including financial aid and personnel, to help revive the failed resort operator, a move that may not excite investors but could at least please fans of the theme park.
"I would like to see it back to health," Chief Cabinet Secretary Yasuo Fukuda told reporters on Wednesday. "It's a very fine institution."
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