Windmills of Japan

In common with much of Eastern Asia, as a rice based rather than a wheat based culture, Japan does not have much of a history of using the power of the wind for grinding. Similarly it's not had a great need for windpumps for drainage either.

However, in comparatively recent times, a matter of the past 10 years or so, the Japanese fondness both for theme parks, and also for recreating the outside world with their borders, has led to the construction of a surprising number of authentic looking, and occasionally mechanically accurate working windmills. The majority of these draw on the long tradition of association between Japan and the Netherlands, though other windmill traditions such as Cape Cod and Denmark get a look in too.

Sakura

"De Liefde" windmill.

A Dutch drainage mill, made in the Netherlands, then shipped and assembled in 1994-6 by Verbij Hoogmade BV. The mill was built for the 40th anniversary of Sakura City, and as a landmark for the Sakura Furusato Square, serves also as symbol of the goodwill between Japan and the Netherlands.

The 15.6m high tower brick tower contains 4 floors of reinforced concrete, and the sails have a diameter of 27.5m. The mill is located alongside the railway linking Tokyo to Narita airport, so is seen by a good proportion of visitors to Japan - not a typical Japanese sight at all! In spring, the fields around the mill are full of flowering bulbs.

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Huis Ten Bosch

A recreated Dutch village theme park near Nagasaki built in 1991, with a number of windmills (3 or 4 accurate reproductions, and a number of other windmill shaped buildings).

One of the windmills, Museum Molen, is a working pumping mill, open to visitors.

In the amusement park, there is an attraction called Molen Molen which is a windmill shaped ferris wheel. [photo]

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Kashiwa

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Funabashi

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Minuma

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HBC Holland Square, Sapporo

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Rosemary Hill, Maruyama

One of the attractions of this town is "The Shakespeare Country Park", a recreation of a Shakespearean village, complete with a number of building associated with the Bard, and a fairly accurate facimile of an English post mill.

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Elsewhere at Rosemary Hill, they also have a number of wooden windpumps. In fact the town of Maruyama is know as the Town of Windmill and Rosemary.

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DenPark, Anjo

DenPark, as it name might suggest, is a Danish themed park. As well as an indoor Danish village, inside a large dome, there is a windmill outside.

[Park info] [mention] [photos] [video - last 20 seconds]

Misc

Last updated 3rd November 2003