Okayama forest park, German Park – review

Lederhosen, industrial metal, beerhalls with huge Steiners of beer, mountains covered in snow, fairytale castles, roads with no speed limit, scarily long compound words, amazing food, gothic architecture, Kings of football, bottom of the Eurovision song contest buddies with the UK, beautiful wooden houses with high pointed roofs to combat the snowfall, Christmas markets full of lights, mulled wine and tasty German sausages.

I could write an entire blog post about how much Germany should be on your holiday list. I studied German for five years and achieved an A-level in it. I have visited the country three times now, once to the beautiful fairytale castle of Neuschwanstein, which was my first ever aeroplane ride. Second was an amazing road trip from Nuremberg to Düsseldorf with my German penfriend. Lastly, I spent a long weekend exploring the port city of Hamburg. In short, Germany is a must-see for travellers, and its influence can be felt in many aspects of life, from food and culture to language.

Before coming to Japan, I learned there were German, Dutch, British, Canadian, and American parks dotted around the country. Parks designed to make visitors believe that they had just entered a new country without the long flight, limited leg room, security checks and the hassle of removing liquids and battery chargers into trays. I didn’t do much research at the time because I was sitting in my cosy bed with my cat snoozing on my lap. I never believed I would have the chance to see them, so I didn’t research too much.

On my recent trip to Okayama, I finally had the chance to check out one of the parks I had briefly heard about. Okayama forest park, or the German park, is located far outside of the city. And I mean far for those reliant on public transport. The park is accessible via a bus, which comes about three times a day; the total travel time for both buses from the station is around 3 hours one way. Making access to this place very difficult.

I ended up taking a bus to the town where the second bus was supposed to depart and relied on a taxi to drive the last 15 minutes, as the next bus wasn’t for another 2 hours. The town where you change offers very little to make the wait less painful. The taxi cost around 5000 yen, and it was a fee that I soon realised was not worth it. When I was making anime reviews on my YouTube channel, I sometimes got to episodes or shows which no longer interested me. I would face a sea of rage for daring to have even a neutral opinion. I opted for silently dropping the shows where this happened in the later reviews I did. I dislike writing negative reviews, but today’s review will be in this direction. I hope to share my experiences; they are personal and not to be taken as anything more.

I recently wrote a piece on Nara Dreamland and how many theme parks in Asia have become failed projects left to rust into the pages of history. The German Park constantly brought that blog to the forefront of my mind. It is important to note that this is not a theme park; it is a park, and the criteria for parks to hit overheads are a lot less. Nara Dreamland's model is very different and does not make a fair comparison. I curiously asked ChatGPT if it thought this park would also go the same direction as Nara, and in summary, it said no.

The park offers a mock German town with a petting zoo, restaurants, a small miniature railway, shops, and a handful of arcade-style games, including archery, go karts, gem hunting for kids and an inflatable dinosaur run. When I arrived, I learned quickly that there are no ATMs on site and most things are cash only, so bear this in mind should you visit. I arrived after 11 Ish on a national holiday, and the park was quiet. It wasn’t until later that there may have been about a few hundred guests in total. If you want clear images, this is something you will get outside of any events. The town area you first enter through has a collection of shops to buy souvenirs and snacks. It is mocked up to look like a town square. There is a small train to shuttle guests around the park, but the walk between areas is not too far.

As an adult, there wasn’t a lot to do other than look in the shops and realise nothing is German, take pictures, eat, visit the petting zoo or play the few games that were not aimed at younger guests. There is a big swing being advertised right now, and at night it goes over a light installation for the festive period. A few food options are offering a buffet or yakiniku experience. Being a huge lover of Yakiniku, I opted for the latter and sadly had one of the most average experiences yet in Japan. The cutlery had not been cleaned, and after a long search for the least dirty tongs, I ended up wiping them with disinfectant wipes. The meat is frozen, and the place was very cold, so I left my coat on. I was worried that the meat at the bottom of the trays was old, as the place didn’t seem to get much foot traffic, but I cannot say for certain it was a thought that crossed my mind. It is cheap to enjoy an hour of all-you-can-eat meat, and the quality matches the price. I had so much admiration for the lone worker who was doing as much as he could. He even politely declined my offer to clean up once I was done. I ended up with a tummy ache for the next few days, but I cannot say for certain if it was this experience. I also ended up under a lot of stress after this trip for personal reasons.

The petting zoo was small and a little disheartening. A few signs were incorrect, but it provided some light humour; the donkey was labelled as a goat, and the cow was labelled as a sheep. The real goats have a fun pen where they can be fed via a rope and bowl. Guests can hoist the bowl up to the goats. I did get a little panicky about the possibility of a goat getting into a scrabble and knocking each other off into the guests below. But the goats seem pretty clued up to the situation. The goats are a highlight of the park. Back in the UK, I often visit a garden centre near me to see pygmy goats cross over the bridge that was built for them. Another highlight of the park was the ability to try archery, something I have been interested in for a while. For 500 yen, you can buy about 10 arrows and take time to fire at targets. There are swan boats that can be hired for a fee and an inflatable dinosaur run for younger guests. For those without children, the park offers very little to fill in more than a few hours in an afternoon.

The houses and decorations needed a facelift and a lick of paint, and the whole time, it gave me Nara Dreamland blog flashbacks. Imagine the near-empty park, rides falling into disuse, a handful of workers waiting for the moment a rare guest may need some help. Nara Dreamland was within the city and had good transport. The German Park does not. I had no idea what to expect or how long I would take in the park, but upon realising I had done pretty much everything, I had to wait for the next infrequent bus out of the park.

The idea behind the park is nice, and I was very excited to see what Japan imagined a German park would look like. In other places, the concept has taken on, like Huit Ten Bosch, the Dutch park in Nagasaki. Often holding big events to celebrate holidays, the park's design carries the vibe very well from the architecture, street names, and the environment within the park. Dutch culture can be found in street names, characters, food and architecture.

The German Park was off the mark. The buildings didn’t feel overly German, with their architecture falling flat. The German bakery offered Japanese goods. During my trip to Shimane, I visited the silver mine, and, in that town, I found an amazing German bakery offering a variety of accurate choices as well as Japanese choices. The German Park, not offering even a single bratwurst, felt underwhelming. The souvenir shops sold local goods. I was hoping for even just a postcard or photo of real Germany on a wall, but there wasn’t anything. The park doesn’t show any images of the real country.

The concept of the park is great, but the execution of the project missed the mark for me personally. There was not much about the park other than the name, the same German song on repeat and some of the buildings vaguely looking European that were remotely German. The food options were not German, the transport links are bad, and there is nothing around the park for miles. It is a beautiful opportunity to see the countryside of Okayama when I visited; the leaves were turning a beautiful shade of orange.

 Overall, I wouldn’t recommend this be added to a time-limited schedule. If you do not have a car, I would recommend Huis Ten Bosch over the German Park. The money and time spent getting to the park wasn’t worth the experience. My memories of the park are overwhelmingly negative, and added to a heartbreaking bus ride back, discovering my travel buddy and partner had been cheating on me for the entirety of the relationship, perhaps my opinion on the park is biased. If you were to tell me the park had closed, I would believe you and not question why.

Perhaps one day the images I took that day would appear on a blog recounting the rise and fall of the German Park and tell a story of a park that also faded into the annals of time.