Japan's theme parks lack customers

[dArKeR]

THE GUARDIAN , OSAKA, JAPAN
Monday, Apr 19, 2004,Page 12

Takashi Kitahara of Yoshimoto Kogyo, whose holdings include the new Laughter Street in Osaka

All is not well with a fun park when the loudest screams come not from its white-knuckle rides but from behind the desk of its chief accountant.

Those cries for help have grown louder in Japan, where the theme park industry took off during the bubble years of the late-1980s and early-1990s, only to plunge towards earth amid the screeching of brakes a decade later.

Faced with mounting debts, lower visitor numbers and lenders under increasing pressure to dispose of their bad loans, dozens of theme parks, fun fairs and mock villages have been forced to adapt, seek outside help or pull the tarpaulin over their merry-go-rounds for the last time.

Among the big-name victims is Seagaia, an indoor tropical beach resort in south-west Japan that went under with debts of ?326 billion (US$3.02 billion) in 2001. Its rehabilitation as an international holiday and convention center is in the hands of Ripplewood Holdings, which snapped up Seagaia's 3,000 hectares for only US$120 million.

http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/worldbiz/archives/2004/04/19/2003137300