Once upon a time theme park tycoon and kabuki actor Matsuo Kunizo imported Disneyland to the countryside of west Japan, piece by magical piece. When Nara Dreamland opened in 1961 people flocked to to see facsimiles of Sleeping Beauty's Castle, the Matterhorn, Main Street, U.S.A. and other iconic Anaheim attractions. Now the turnstiles are chained shut, the laughter of the crowd replaced by birdsong as cheers from a nearby baseball stadium streak across the empty lot like echos of rumbling roller coasters.
The park hides horrors that would never make it through the gates of the Magic Kingdom. Enter the Witch's Cave, a haunted house that runs under the bobsled tracks of the fanged mountain. Its inhabitants--ghouls, ghosts and yokai--grow fearsome with rot. Like the rest of Nara Dreamland, they provide more thrills in death than in life.
