Meet Several Creatures in the East of Hokkaido: Shigechan*Land – Tsubetsu, Hokkaido

This is the second time I visited this largest private museum garden in the east part of Hokkaido. The outsider artist, Mr. Shigenari Onishi, built his artistic place, Shigechan*Land, in Hokkaido, which opened in 2001. Shigechan is the nickname of Mr. Onishi. Before constructing his kingdom, he worked as an illustrator and provided several paintings for famous musicians like Herbie Hancock, Ryuichi Sakamoto, and so on. However, his interest gradually changed from painting to three-dimensional installations. Soon, his Tokyo apartment became too small to keep all of his work, so he decided to move to Tsubetsu, Hokkaido where he was born.

There is a small red ticketing hut at the entrance of the land. On my first visit, I didn’t know who the person inside the ticket booth was, but finally, I realized he was the master of this miracle land! He introduced his creation gently in between his maintenance efforts. The red buildings were named human body parts and the main exhibition cabin was called the “head” house. Its entrance door was covered with unrolled and flattened beer can sheets, and you could purchase a wooden table also covered with flattened beer cans for three hundred fifty thousand yen! It is his artwork. You can also enjoy his famous characters “Gourd Geezer” and “Peanut Man” inside.

In the “mouth” house, a few lanky aliens called “Nano-Nanoian” are waiting for you. They have small coconut heads and narrow driftwood bodies. Shigechan said that some hornets made their nest inside the mouth cabin so we shouldn’t enter the hut. So I just watched the inside from the entrance this time. After that, he tried to get rid of these nests with aerosol insecticides. Additionally, there were so many gnats in the land during the summer season, so you must use an insect-repellent spray.Next was the “skin” house and there were so many photographs on every wall inside the open cabin. I’m not sure why he called this space the “skin” house, however, I found a curious picture that contained the plastic face of a frog, which was made from a fishing float. He looked mean to me. Yes, you can confirm the existence of the real plastic frog near this “skin” house. He was in the telephone booth with so many of his colleagues.

Walking through the gangplank on the wet field, we reached the “ear” house and found many Gourd Geezers in the showcase. Each figure had a spring on its bottom and moved around irregularly when we jumped around the hut. It was really fun! Next to the “ear” house, there was the “bone” house. The reshaped bones of several animals were such beautiful works of art. The exhibition featured the horns of deer, pelvises of unknown animals, rearranged jaws, and so on.

Finally, we entered the souvenir shop, Coco House. Coco-san is Shigechan’s wife, so she manages this shop. I bought a T-shirt and an original illustration of a pair of common squids. I’m not sure if they can speak English, however, I guess they might be able to because they spent several years in New York City. They close their amazing private museum during the wintertime, and it is open from Saturday to Tuesday even in the summer season. Please check the website or send an E-mail to him when you want to visit it.