Meet the World
Encyclopedia
was an attraction at Tomorrowland
in Tokyo Disneyland
from 1983 until 2002.
It was a show which explored the history of Japan
over the course of 19 minutes, focusing specifically on the history of Japan's engagement with the outside world. The show featured an animated crane explaining Japanese history to a young boy and girl from Yokohama. The show featured dialogue between a number of audio-animatronic figures (including Sakamoto Ryōma
, Itō Hirobumi
and Fukuzawa Yukichi
) and a movie screen in the background. Park guides and maps said "explore Japan's heritage in an incredible time-travel adventure!"
The show was presented in a rotating theater, similar to the Carousel of Progress at Walt Disney World and previously at Disneyland However, they were designed in the opposite way. In Tokyo, the audiences sat in the rotating theater inside with the stages built around them, whereas, in the Carousel of Progress the audience sits in the rotating outside with the stages being the center of the building. Meet the World's layout meant less audience capacity but a larger stage area, while Carousel of Progress's format has more capacity but smaller stages.
The "Meet The World" song was written by the Sherman Brothers
.
devoted his efforts to 'meet the world' and created a constitution
, explored Chinese culture and brought Buddhism
, arts
and writing systems
to Japan. The crane then takes them forward into the past.
They arrive at Tanegashima
where Portuguese traders meet with locals
, introducing Japan to new trade opportunities as well as the outside world. Additionally, firearms and Christianity are introduced during this period. However, because of these elements, the Sakoku
policy of self-exile
is enacted, leaving the country in isolation, apart from limited trade with the Dutch and Chinese at Nagasaki
. Only when US Navy Commodore Matthew C. Perry arrives with his Black Ships
does the exile end and Japan 'meets the world' again. The shogun
retires and signals the time of the Meiji Restoration
. However, the ruling power takes the idea of 'meet the world' from a peaceful one
to a destructive
and aggressive
one. As a result, Japan soon enters dark days
, but the crane reassures the two children that those days have ended and that Japan now leads the way of today
.
The young boy asks the crane if she is the "Spirit of Japan
", but she responds that he and all the other people are the "Spirit of Japan
". A final montage of Japan's modern accomplishments
brings the show to a close as the children and the crane soar to the skies on a hot-air balloon.
, founder of the Matsushita Electric Industrial Company, had a strong interest in Japanese history and in Walt Disney's visions and pressed Disney to create a Japanese analog of the American "Hall of Presidents
" attraction. It was originally planned as part of the Japan pavilion in World Showcase at Epcot
in Orlando, Florida
. Planners went so far as to construct the show building, which was never used.
Among other issues, certain politically-sensitive issues such as World War II
were noticeably under-emphasized in the show. The show mentions that there were some "dark days" between the Meiji Restoration and the "Japan of today", which left Disney management feeling nervous about possible reactions from guests (specifically American veterans and other groups) over such a dramatic conflict in history being 'glossed over' as 'dark days', despite other attractions in the Disney cannon having unbiased references to the same time period. Concept art and models were featured in the 1982 book "Walt Disney's EPCOT Center", along with a proposed Africa pavilion.
The attraction opened at Tokyo Disneyland as one of that park's initial attractions on April 15th, 1983 and closed on June 30th, 2002. Matsushita Electric was its initial sponsor and subsidized the attraction so that it was one of the few free attractions while the park still used ride tickets. Konosuke Matsushita died in 1989 and Matsushita shifted its corporate sponsorship to the nearby Star Tours
attraction around that time; Japan Airlines
then took over sponsorship of Meet the World for a short period.
In summer 2006, Meet the World's show building was demolished to make way for Monsters, Inc. Ride & Go Seek
.
Meet the World was one of the few attractions in the park that dealt with Japan; the other was a film, "The Eternal Seas", found in the future Magic-Eye Theater. The Oriental Land Company, the owners of Tokyo Disneyland, specifically wanted their park to focus on the American way of life and the American parks of Disneyland and Walt Disney World.
Tomorrowland
- Tomorrowland 1955–1967 :The first Tomorrowland opened at Disneyland on July 18, 1955, with only several of its planned attractions open, due to budget cuts. The construction of the park was rushed, so Tomorrowland was the last land to be finished. It became something of a corporate showcase,...
in Tokyo Disneyland
Tokyo Disneyland
is a 115 acre theme park at the Tokyo Disney Resort located in Urayasu, Chiba, Japan, near Tokyo. Its main gate is directly adjacent to both Maihama Station and Tokyo Disneyland Station. It was the first Disney park to be built outside of the United States and opened on April 15, 1983...
from 1983 until 2002.
It was a show which explored the history of Japan
Japan
Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...
over the course of 19 minutes, focusing specifically on the history of Japan's engagement with the outside world. The show featured an animated crane explaining Japanese history to a young boy and girl from Yokohama. The show featured dialogue between a number of audio-animatronic figures (including Sakamoto Ryōma
Sakamoto Ryoma
was a leader of the movement to overthrow the Tokugawa shogunate during the Bakumatsu period in Japan. Ryōma used the alias .- Early life :Ryōma was born in Kōchi, of Tosa han . By the Japanese calendar, this was the sixth year of Tenpō...
, Itō Hirobumi
Ito Hirobumi
Prince was a samurai of Chōshū domain, Japanese statesman, four time Prime Minister of Japan , genrō and Resident-General of Korea. Itō was assassinated by An Jung-geun, a Korean nationalist who was against the annexation of Korea by the Japanese Empire...
and Fukuzawa Yukichi
Fukuzawa Yukichi
was a Japanese author, writer, teacher, translator, entrepreneur and political theorist who founded Keio University. His ideas about government and social institutions made a lasting impression on a rapidly changing Japan during the Meiji Era...
) and a movie screen in the background. Park guides and maps said "explore Japan's heritage in an incredible time-travel adventure!"
The show was presented in a rotating theater, similar to the Carousel of Progress at Walt Disney World and previously at Disneyland However, they were designed in the opposite way. In Tokyo, the audiences sat in the rotating theater inside with the stages built around them, whereas, in the Carousel of Progress the audience sits in the rotating outside with the stages being the center of the building. Meet the World's layout meant less audience capacity but a larger stage area, while Carousel of Progress's format has more capacity but smaller stages.
The "Meet The World" song was written by the Sherman Brothers
Sherman Brothers
The Sherman Brothers are an American songwriting duo that specialize in musical films, made up of Robert B. Sherman and Richard M. Sherman ....
.
Plot
The show opens with two young children from Yokohama discussing the ancient creation of Japan. Soon, an anthropamorphic crane appears to tell them the whole story. She takes them back through time to uncover the ancient Jōmon people and the difficult relationship they encountered with the sea and land. But it changed in the next era when Prince ShōtokuPrince Shotoku
, also known as or , was a semi-legendary regent and a politician of the Asuka period in Japan who served under Empress Suiko. He was a son of Emperor Yōmei and his younger half-sister Princess Anahobe no Hashihito. His parents were relatives of the ruling Soga clan, and was involved in the defeat...
devoted his efforts to 'meet the world' and created a constitution
Seventeen-article constitution
The is, according to Nihon Shoki published in 720, a document authored by Prince Shōtoku in 604. It was adopted in the reign of Empress Suiko. The emphasis of the document is not so much on the basic laws by which the state was to be governed, such as one may expect from a modern constitution, but...
, explored Chinese culture and brought Buddhism
Buddhism in Japan
The history of Buddhism in Japan can be roughly divided into three periods, namely the Nara period , the Heian period and the post-Heian period . Each period saw the introduction of new doctrines and upheavals in existing schools...
, arts
Japanese art
Japanese art covers a wide range of art styles and media, including ancient pottery, sculpture in wood and bronze, ink painting on silk and paper and more recently manga, cartoon, along with a myriad of other types of works of art...
and writing systems
Kanji
Kanji are the adopted logographic Chinese characters hanzi that are used in the modern Japanese writing system along with hiragana , katakana , Indo Arabic numerals, and the occasional use of the Latin alphabet...
to Japan. The crane then takes them forward into the past.
They arrive at Tanegashima
Tanegashima
is an island lying to the south of Kyushu, in southern Japan, and is part of Kagoshima Prefecture. The island is the second largest of the Ōsumi Islands....
where Portuguese traders meet with locals
Nanban trade
The or the in Japanese history extends from the arrival of the first Europeans to Japan in 1543, to their near-total exclusion from the archipelago in 1614, under the promulgation of the "Sakoku" Seclusion Edicts.- Etymology :...
, introducing Japan to new trade opportunities as well as the outside world. Additionally, firearms and Christianity are introduced during this period. However, because of these elements, the Sakoku
Sakoku
was the foreign relations policy of Japan under which no foreigner could enter nor could any Japanese leave the country on penalty of death. The policy was enacted by the Tokugawa shogunate under Tokugawa Iemitsu through a number of edicts and policies from 1633–39 and remained in effect until...
policy of self-exile
Edo period
The , or , is a division of Japanese history which was ruled by the shoguns of the Tokugawa family, running from 1603 to 1868. The political entity of this period was the Tokugawa shogunate....
is enacted, leaving the country in isolation, apart from limited trade with the Dutch and Chinese at Nagasaki
Nagasaki
is the capital and the largest city of Nagasaki Prefecture on the island of Kyushu in Japan. Nagasaki was founded by the Portuguese in the second half of the 16th century on the site of a small fishing village, formerly part of Nishisonogi District...
. Only when US Navy Commodore Matthew C. Perry arrives with his Black Ships
Black Ships
The Black Ships was the name given to Western vessels arriving in Japan in the 16th and 19th centuries.In 1543 Portuguese initiated the first contacts, establishing a trade route linking Goa to Nagasaki...
does the exile end and Japan 'meets the world' again. The shogun
Shogun
A was one of the hereditary military dictators of Japan from 1192 to 1867. In this period, the shoguns, or their shikken regents , were the de facto rulers of Japan though they were nominally appointed by the emperor...
retires and signals the time of the Meiji Restoration
Meiji Restoration
The , also known as the Meiji Ishin, Revolution, Reform or Renewal, was a chain of events that restored imperial rule to Japan in 1868...
. However, the ruling power takes the idea of 'meet the world' from a peaceful one
Foreign relations of Meiji Japan
During the Meiji period, the new Government of Meiji Japan also modernized foreign policy, an important step in making Japan a full member of the international community. The traditional East Asia worldview was based not on an international society of national units but on cultural distinctions and...
to a destructive
Attack on Pearl Harbor
The attack on Pearl Harbor was a surprise military strike conducted by the Imperial Japanese Navy against the United States naval base at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, on the morning of December 7, 1941...
and aggressive
Second Sino-Japanese War
The Second Sino-Japanese War was a military conflict fought primarily between the Republic of China and the Empire of Japan. From 1937 to 1941, China fought Japan with some economic help from Germany , the Soviet Union and the United States...
one. As a result, Japan soon enters dark days
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
, but the crane reassures the two children that those days have ended and that Japan now leads the way of today
Post-Occupation Japan
Post-Occupation Japan is a phrase used to describe the period in the history of Japan which started at the end of the Allied occupation in 1952.During this period, Japan re-established itself as a global economic and political power....
.
The young boy asks the crane if she is the "Spirit of Japan
Japanese nationalism
encompasses a broad range of ideas and sentiments harbored by the Japanese people over the last two centuries regarding their native country, its cultural nature, political form and historical destiny...
", but she responds that he and all the other people are the "Spirit of Japan
Japanese nationalism
encompasses a broad range of ideas and sentiments harbored by the Japanese people over the last two centuries regarding their native country, its cultural nature, political form and historical destiny...
". A final montage of Japan's modern accomplishments
1980s in Japan
In Japan during the 1980s, the economy was in a boom where buyers found themselves paying the highest prices for goods and commodities. As of March 2010, the unemployment rate in Japan is 4.9%; a very low number compared to the unemployment rate during the height of the 1990s...
brings the show to a close as the children and the crane soar to the skies on a hot-air balloon.
History
Konosuke MatsushitaKonosuke Matsushita
was a Japanese industrialist, the founder of Panasonic, a company based in the suburb of Kadoma , Osaka in Japan. For many Japanese, he is known as "the god of management"...
, founder of the Matsushita Electric Industrial Company, had a strong interest in Japanese history and in Walt Disney's visions and pressed Disney to create a Japanese analog of the American "Hall of Presidents
Hall of Presidents
The Hall of Presidents is an attraction located in Liberty Square at the Magic Kingdom in the Walt Disney World Resort. The attraction is a multi-media presentation and stage show featuring Audio-Animatronic figures of all 43 U.S. Presidents. It opened on October 1, 1971, along with the rest of...
" attraction. It was originally planned as part of the Japan pavilion in World Showcase at Epcot
Epcot
Epcot is a theme park in the Walt Disney World Resort, located near Orlando, Florida. The park is dedicated to the celebration of human achievement, namely international culture and technological innovation. The second park built at the resort, it opened on October 1, 1982 and was initially named...
in Orlando, Florida
Orlando, Florida
Orlando is a city in the central region of the U.S. state of Florida. It is the county seat of Orange County, and the center of the Greater Orlando metropolitan area. According to the 2010 US Census, the city had a population of 238,300, making Orlando the 79th largest city in the United States...
. Planners went so far as to construct the show building, which was never used.
Among other issues, certain politically-sensitive issues such as World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
were noticeably under-emphasized in the show. The show mentions that there were some "dark days" between the Meiji Restoration and the "Japan of today", which left Disney management feeling nervous about possible reactions from guests (specifically American veterans and other groups) over such a dramatic conflict in history being 'glossed over' as 'dark days', despite other attractions in the Disney cannon having unbiased references to the same time period. Concept art and models were featured in the 1982 book "Walt Disney's EPCOT Center", along with a proposed Africa pavilion.
The attraction opened at Tokyo Disneyland as one of that park's initial attractions on April 15th, 1983 and closed on June 30th, 2002. Matsushita Electric was its initial sponsor and subsidized the attraction so that it was one of the few free attractions while the park still used ride tickets. Konosuke Matsushita died in 1989 and Matsushita shifted its corporate sponsorship to the nearby Star Tours
Star Tours
Star Tours is a motion simulator attraction currently operating at Tokyo Disneyland and Disneyland Park at Disneyland Paris. The ride is based on the successful Star Wars film series created by George Lucas, making it the first Disney attraction based on a non-Disney produced film.The first...
attraction around that time; Japan Airlines
Japan Airlines
is an airline headquartered in Shinagawa, Tokyo, Japan. It is the flag carrier of Japan and its main hubs are Tokyo's Narita International Airport and Tokyo International Airport , as well as Nagoya's Chūbu Centrair International Airport and Osaka's Kansai International Airport...
then took over sponsorship of Meet the World for a short period.
In summer 2006, Meet the World's show building was demolished to make way for Monsters, Inc. Ride & Go Seek
Monsters, Inc. Ride & Go Seek
Monsters, Inc. Ride & Go Seek is a dark ride attraction at Tokyo Disneyland. It is based on the 2001 Disney·Pixar film Monsters, Inc.The attraction can be found at the entrance of Tomorrowland under the guise of the Monsters, Inc. scare factory from the film...
.
Meet the World was one of the few attractions in the park that dealt with Japan; the other was a film, "The Eternal Seas", found in the future Magic-Eye Theater. The Oriental Land Company, the owners of Tokyo Disneyland, specifically wanted their park to focus on the American way of life and the American parks of Disneyland and Walt Disney World.
Attraction Facts
- Grand opening: April 15, 1983
- Closure date: June 30, 2002
- Designer: WED Enterprises
- Sponsors: National-Panasonic/Japan AirlinesJapan Airlinesis an airline headquartered in Shinagawa, Tokyo, Japan. It is the flag carrier of Japan and its main hubs are Tokyo's Narita International Airport and Tokyo International Airport , as well as Nagoya's Chūbu Centrair International Airport and Osaka's Kansai International Airport...
- Superseded by:
- Monsters, Inc. Ride & Go SeekMonsters, Inc. Ride & Go SeekMonsters, Inc. Ride & Go Seek is a dark ride attraction at Tokyo Disneyland. It is based on the 2001 Disney·Pixar film Monsters, Inc.The attraction can be found at the entrance of Tomorrowland under the guise of the Monsters, Inc. scare factory from the film...
(2009)
- Monsters, Inc. Ride & Go Seek
- Show length: 20 Minutes
- Required ticket: Free
- Ride system: Rotating theater with Audio-Animatronics