Credit: Tokyo Disney ResortIn a very strange turn of events, Mitsubishi Estate, the powerful Japanese corporation mostly known for manufacturing popular cars like the Outlander and Mirage, has decided it wants to challenge Disneyland.
The various Disney Parks are arguably the world’s most famous, with resorts like the original Disneyland in Anaheim and Florida’s Walt Disney World holding a kind of cultural value that most theme parks could only envy.
However, in recent years, many companies have decided they want to get into the theme park game or, at the very least, upgrade. Universal Studios has multiple locations of the Wizarding World of Harry Potter and the new Super Nintendo World, Studio Ghibli has its own park celebrating its critically acclaimed animated films, and Merlin Entertainment’s Peppa Pig even has her own area in Florida.
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However, all those companies at least have strong ties to the entertainment industry. In contrast, Mitsubishi Estate is part of a vast conglomerate of Japanese companies that do everything from car and aerospace, heavy manufacturing, financial services, and life insurance.
Mitsubishi Estate is one of the largest real-estate developers in Japan, evaluated at close to US $12 billion. Now, that company has taken possession of a former US Navy base and plans to turn it into a theme park to compete with Tokyo Disneyland, conveniently directly located across Tokyo Bay.
Credit: Yokohama City
According to Stars and Stripes, Mitsubishi Estate has taken control of the site of the former US Navy Kamiseya Communication Site, which was returned to the country of Japan along with the former Fukaya Communication Site, Tomioka Storage Area, and Negishi Dependent Housing Area in 2014.
Yokohama prefecture selected Mitsubishi Estate to develop the land. The announced Mitsubishi theme park will be approximately 126 acres large, about the same as nearby Tokyo Disneyland, which does not seem to be a coincidence.
The name of the park has not yet been publically announced, but it is said to be themed around Japanese culture and entertainment. Conceptually, it sounds like it might be similar to the Disney California Adventure Park at the original Anaheim Disneyland, which directly promotes the state that it is located in.
Credit: Yokohama City
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In addition to the Japan-themed entertainment, Mitsubishi Estate is building a train station and shopping area across 17 acres, while a different shopping center will cover another 16 acres. It seems like the good people at Mitsubishi are very much expecting their guests to spend a lot of money there.
Mitsubishi Estate has announced that it expects some 12 million visitors in its first year and 15 million in its next. That is ambitious, considering that Tokyo Disneyland, the most popular park in Japan, only managed about six million in 2021. Granted, that was during the COVID-19 pandemic, but still, it sounds like Mitsubishi is aiming high right from the start.
Would you go to the Mitsubishi park or Tokyo Disneyland? What is Mitsubishi thinking? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below!