A century ago, the West used to entertain and educate itself with random views of the East. World's Fairs and grand expositions displayed Formosan villages and Ainu tribal rites. Now the East, or at least Japan, is diverting itself with random views of the West.
There are dozens of village-like theme parks devoted to the wonders of Europe. Kyushu has the largest and most profitable, the Huis Ten Bosch, 152 hectares of canals, windmills, tulips and wooden shoes. The permanent guest can buy an on-site Dutch house and live the life of a burgher without ever having left Nagasaki. As Cleo Paskal has written, "Today's Japanese tourists don't want to be bothered by the horror, not to mention the expense and trouble, of the real thing. They want a New York they can visit for a weekend, and a London where everyone speaks Japanese. They want a sanitized Japanese version of the rest of the world -- a virtual vacation."
In the last 10 years or so, using the highly successful Disneyland as a model, a number of virtual vacation spots have opened. Little Ashibetsu in Hokkaido, losing its coal-mining industry, decided upon a complete, Prince Edward Island-like Anne of Green Gables Land, and hired a number of otherwise out-of-work Canadian actors to play Anne and her family.