Joyland Tarumae

Joyland Tarumae was a leisure facility in Tomakomai, Hokkaido that operated officially as the Hokkaido Wild Animal Park, combining sulfurous and mildly acidic thermal spring bathing with wildlife observation in a setting characteristic of Hokkaido's mid-twentieth-century rural leisure culture. The facility was marketed in newspaper advertisements under the name Joyland Tarumae alongside its official designation, reflecting a distinctive Hokkaido tradition of combining geothermal bathing with contact with the island's rich wild animal heritage in a single destination. Though no longer operating, this former park remains a memory of an era when Hokkaido's abundant geothermal resources and wildlife were paired together to create the kind of immersive nature leisure experience unique to Japan's northernmost main island.