A renovated Uzumasa Kyoto Village in Kyoto’s Ukyo Ward reopens with new night-time attractions aimed at adult visitors. (Yoshiaki Arai)
KYOTO—In a city famed for shrines, temples and ancient customs, a theme park is offering immersive night-time attractions, including gambling and torture chambers, to lure adult visitors.
The facility was previously Toei Kyoto Studio Park, Japan’s first film theme park that opened in 1975, whose customers were mainly students on school trips and families.
But it renamed itself Uzumasa Kyoto Village, featuring authentic replica townscapes of Kyoto from the Edo Period (1603-1867).
The park in the city’s Ukyo Ward recently completed the first phase in major renovations to provide entertainment mainly for those 18 years old or older.
It also addresses a problem related to the hordes of tourists that flood Kyoto.
The city is bustling with visitors during the day, but many of them have complained about a lack of entertainment options at night.
To remedy the situation, the city government and the Kyoto Chamber of Commerce and Industry are working to reduce daytime congestion of tourists and push them toward after-sunset destinations to lift Kyoto’s “night-time economy.”
Uzumasa Kyoto Village also needed to turn things around, as students have been staying away from Kyoto to avoid the overtourism problems.
The number of park visitors in the business year ending in March 2025 was about 517,000, or about one-fifth of the peak business year ending in March 1983.
The park is undergoing incremental renovations under the theme of “wandering into Edo-Period Kyoto.” The first phase focuses on night-time entertainment.
ON A ROLL
In a media preview for the renovated park held on March 19, a “tsubofurishi” dealer with one arm exposed from her kimono shakes a cup containing two dice.
“Come on, are you betting or what?” she exclaims. “Even or odd?”
Players placed their bets on whether the dice total would be “cho” (even) or “han” (odd).
The gamblers in the preview scene were actually visitors using wooden tags instead of money to try their luck in the traditional dice game of “cho-han bakuchi.”
The gambling game and a torture room, which are often seen in “jidaigeki”(period dramas), were among the immersive entertainment content of the renovated park, which opened on March 28.
The park is lit up at night and also offers hands-on cultural activities, such as tea ceremony and flower arrangement lessons, as well as sword fighting sessions. Visitors can wear kimono for these events.
Uzumasa Kyoto Village will set up a red-light district-themed area in spring 2027 and a playhouse in spring 2028. A spa facility is also planned to open in or after 2028.
Although the park operator is a subsidiary of film company Toei Co., the name “Toei” was dropped from the park’s new name to promote Japanese content other than movies to the world.
NIGHT MOVES
Most of the temples and shrines in Kyoto close at around 4 p.m. in winter and at 5 p.m. in summer. Only a few shops remain open after 7 p.m., even in the Teramachi Kyogoku shopping district of the city’s downtown area.
Uzumasa Kyoto Village’s predecessor had also closed its doors at 5 p.m.
In recent years, a growing number of tourists have said day trips are sufficient to visit Kyoto, giving them another reason to skip nighttime entertainment and avoid rising hotel prices.
The city is promoting evening and nighttime attractions.
On April 9, a theater specializing in traditional drum performances opened in front of Kyoto Station to promote Japanese culture in the evening hours.
The dice gambling game at Uzumasa Kyoto Village had previously been offered at night for a limited time. But it proved so popular that visitors would wait in line for up to two hours to get inside the venue.
The park operator thought it could stimulate night-time demand by hosting the game throughout the year, a public relations representative at the park said.
“Visitors can not only see the actors’ convincing performances up-close but also gain hands-on experience,” the representative said.
A one-day ticket for the park costs 2,800 yen ($17.50) for adults. A newly introduced 2,000-yen night-time ticket is available from 5 to 9 p.m.
The park’s website (in English) provides more information at <https://en.eigamura.com/>
AloJapan.com