Japan Tourism Info

DO JAPANESE DREAM OF THE ELECTRIC VENICE?

by Laura Liverani

You're sipping a cappuccino sitting in a cafe' by a canal. Through the foam topping your cup, you catch sight of a gondola fading away into the distance. The colours of the scenery are those of a XVI Century Titian painting. A breeze carries the notes of an old canzone, dissolving into echoes of relaxed footsteps on the pavement. Happy-looking people are strolling around holding Gucci shopping bags and ice-cream cones. It would be too easy to guess that this is Venice. Yet, there is no trace of tourists, nor pigeons. That's because this is not Italy, but Nagoya, Japan.

Imagine a Venice made in Japan. What would it look like? Probably just perfect. Tidier, cleaner, quieter than the real one. You would have beautiful canals and gondolas, without the rats and the pollution which plague the original Venice. It would be a more compact Venice, a few square meters of pure Italian style: a place to feed the eye, the mouth and the brain with concentrated doses of "italianicity" in half day. Without the side effects.

This tourist dream came true not so long ago. Villaggio Italia -aka Italiamura- was launched in Nagoya's port district, Japan, in 2005: a hyperrealistic replica of an Italian neighbourhood loosely based on Venice. Part shopping mall, part theme park, little Venice features real-scale buildings and piazzas filled with landmarks, alfresco cafes and shops crowded with diners and shoppers. Cable-broadcasts of Mina's pop songs and vintage Antonioni's movie posters add a finishing touch to the setting.

In Italiamura flawless holiday snapshots are guaranteed: you can frame most of your favourite Italian landmarks in just one picture. The Bell Tower from St. Mark's Square in Venice, Michelangelo's David from Florence and the Mouth of Truth from Rome are all conveniently gathered in a few square meters. This is why many couples choose Villaggio Italia as a backdrop for their wedding day. A package includes a wedding ceremony at the chapel, a romantic gondola ride and a photo-shoot.

Ranging from food to design, all kind of Italy-imported goods are available in shops and supermarkets. What you can buy and eat it's actually the real thing. Oven-baked pizzas and spaghetti al dente are served in restaurants. Espressos have the right size and strength, unless you insist on buying the tinned Japanese version from the ubiquitous vending machines, just outside the village. In the specialist supermarket you can find the same products you would buy at grocery stores in Italy, both packed and fresh, from your favourite brand of biscotti to imported mortadella.

Food and clothes are not the only goods imported from Italy. Musicians, gondoliers, chefs are all genuine Italians. The gondoliers wear stripy t-shirts and straw hats just like in Venice. While watching them at work, I spot Nicola. His grin is on posters everywhere. The Italian showman hosts a live quiz about Italy, held in Japanese. Some tourists are asking him to pose for a snapshot: in this little human zoo, he's some kind of celebrity.

Hidden behind a facade of pastel coloured buildings, lies the heart of Villaggio Italia, a shopping mall with a pseudo-European atmosphere. You can virtually find any Made-in-Italy product here: from espresso machines, to designer clothes and top-end furniture. In the foyer, a live orchestra offers a pleasant alternative to the tedious music which typically comes with shopping malls. You can sit down on the chairs facing the musicians, put down your shopping bags, and snooze for a while nodding off to a live Rossini symphony.

This is where I meet Noriko and her friends, a merry posse of 50-something housewives. Whenever possible they leave their husbands at home and come to Villaggio Italia to shop like crazy. They love this place. They ask me if it really feels like Italy. I tell them it's amazingly realistic. Just little details don't match: for example ice-cream cones here are square rather than round. "Square shapes are easier to stock" they say. This is the whole point. This place is disturbingly rational, while Italy has never been.

Except for the little details, most of the bits and pieces which are assembled to make up the Japanese Venice are authentic, or at least convincing. It's the sum of all its parts that somehow feels too distilled and pure to be true. In a way this place is more Italian than Italy itself. Here everything is obsessively more Italian than it would be in Italy. This is the Italy dreamed by the Japanese.
That's why Villaggio Italia reveals much more about contemporary Japan than it tells about Italy, and this is what makes it a great experience. When Venice eventually sinks, its hyperrealistic version in Nagoya will be the only one left, anyway.

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