Fair Japan

Fair Japan

Other Name(s)	Japanese Village Old Japan
Type	Activity Space Exhibition Music and Performances
Park Section	Northwest
Built	1905
Opened	1905
Closed	1914
Designer	Kushibiki Yumindo
Site Area	4-15 acres
Replaced By	Swimming Pool Band Shell (1)

Fair Japan, sometimes stylized as Old Japan, was a Japanese Village exhibit space at Olentangy Park where parkgoers could walk through a Japanese-style garden, including the "Bonzai Bridge," dine at a restaurant in the form of a tea and chop suey house, buy crafts at a bazaar, and watch traditional performances. Designed by Kushibiki Yumindo [published as Yumeta Kushibiki or Umeta Kushibiki], the area was built by eight to 15 "native contractors" in 1905 just north of the Figure Eight Toboggan, replacing the Miniature Railway.

Overall, 40 Japanese men and women came to Columbus to reconstruct the exhibit. The area the exhibit took up ranged between four and 15 acres. The "village" included a "toris," a square arch placed in front of Japanese temples; an arched wishing bridge called the "Bonzai Bridge;" shops with Japanese souvenirs; and topiaries of swans and flamingos. It also included a "typical Japanese home" with a family living in the structure; an open stage with continuous performances by Japanese actors, tumblers, and jugglers; a bazaar; and tea houses staffed by Japanese women in costumes, where parkgoers removed their shoes before entering and could drink tea from porcelain cups. The staff, performers, etc., were probably a mix of races and ethnicities but dressed and performed in the representational ways of the time period.

Joseph Dusenbury originally saw the exhibit at the St. Louis Exposition and imported it to the park. Builder Kushibik had been in the U.S. for 20 years and built similar exhibits at Atlantic City, Buffalo, and St. Louis. The stage featured Legerdemain, tumbling, and other acrobatic features. The park charged a 5-cent$1.79 in 2025 dollars admission fee in 1906 until June 17 of that year when it was free for the rest of the season.

General games, such as a Japanese rolling ball game, were also available. While Creatore's Italian Band performed during the opening weeks of the 1905 season, vaudeville acts were performed in the Fair Japan exhibition area. The Igorrote Village actors stayed and performed in this area in 1907 and 1908. Two staff members, Shingo Immamura and Toku Magaya, were married at the village on July 4, 1909, by Rev. Isaac, pastor of the 10th Avenue Baptist Church.

The area was rebuilt in 1914 and put under the management of Kenoshita [or Kinoshita], a "modest and young" Tokyo native who worked several years in the mercantile business in Cleveland. However, the attraction does not appear in photos after 1913, and the Swimming Pool was added in the space in 1917.

Gallery

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  Vintage postcard (c. 1905-1906) showing a section of Fair Japan and the Circle Swing.

Lawsuits

Binzo Suzuki and Sohechi Iida sued J. W. Dusenbury in 1905 for $1,102$40,256 on 2025 dollars for Japanese goods and merchandise that furnished Fair Japan.

Also, in 1905, Japanese watercolor artist F. J. Baske and 10 other Japanese workers at Olentangy Park sued Dusenbury for not paying them for their final month and a half of work. Dusenbury told them he'd pay after meeting with the Fair Japan architect, Kushibiki, but the workers did not believe Kushibiki would come to Columbus. This underpayment led to Baske selling his paintings so the group could stay in Columbus or travel to New York.