Glücks Kingdom   Location: Japan

Glücks Kingdom was a German themed amusement park located in the north of Japan. It first opened its doors during the summer of 89. Materials were shipped in from Germany, as was a well-known architect and a team of craftsmen. Slowly a mini German village was created in this quiet corner of rural Japan, complete with a large hotel, ballroom, western style chapel, log cabins, restaurants, gift-shops and amusement park attractions.
It was a project that was supposed to entice visitors to the area during the warmer months, as most of the tourism in the area revolved around winter sports at the time. The first six months saw a whopping half a million visitors through the door which is quite impressive considering its rural location. Sadly, it all went downhill after that – the flagrant spending of the 1980s was now a thing of the past, as the economy started to plunder and people stayed home a lot more. Year on year the popularity of the park dwindled, and little over a decade later, in 2003, it closed its doors “temporarily”. It then officially shut up shop for good in 2007.
Now the entire park is slowly being swallowed by the surrounding forest, the rides are barely visible and some parts of the hotel are on the brink of collapse after years of neglect. Other parts of the park in slightly better condition, but it feels as if its “prime”, even as an urbex location, is long gone.