In Japan, the citizens and their government are becoming increasingly concerned about the health and happiness of the population. Leisure activities, at convenient and well planned resorts, are providing wonderous opportunities to encourage the relaxation and imagination of the people.

Japan has a very limited land area which must be utilized efficiently for recreation. The majority of the people

live in intensely urban areas. Open space, fresh air, natural settings and a feeling of tranquility are essential as a contrast to every day life. Japanese resorts of the future are utilizing landscape design to create places where people can enjoy golf, skiing, swimming, boating, hiking, nature walks or other leisure pursuits to refresh themselves as part of a more satisfying and healthy lifestyle.

In the Nasu Highlands, 150 kilometers northeast of Tokyo, increasing environmental concerns have caused more sensitive land use and the protection of natural scenic and recreational resources, while opening them up to more and more people. The challenge is to balance environmental and economic needs while creating desirable settings for recreation.

For the past five years, The SWA Group has been working with architects ED2 International on several planning and design projects for Towa Real Estate Development Company in Nasu. These projects include a theme park redevelopment and expansion, resort hotels, residential villas, vacation homes, private golf clubhouses, sports and recreational facilities, conference facilities, and master planning for a destination resort. It has involved working within different Japanese ecological, cultural and business environments. At Nasu Highlands, SWA has expanded the role of the Landscape Architect to include all phases of design, from programmatic and conceptual design through site planning, schematic design, design development, review of construction documents and construction observation.

Concern for the environment and preservation of forests and open space are high on the agenda in the planning and design of resort development in Nasu. The increased affluence and leisure time in the 1960's and 1970's created a demand for more amenities and for alternative places for people to live and enjoy recreational activities. Better highways and increased air traffic opened up land areas that had not been easily accessible in the past. At Nasu Highlands Park, the challenge was to develop an idea for transforming a theme park (for one-day visits) into a destination resort, where guests stay longer, make repeat visits, and enjoy the secluded, unique environment.

Fantasy Pointe

At Fantasy Pointe, an existing small-scale amusement park was transformed into a major family-oriented entertainment center that contrasts with, but also melds into, the natural environment of forested mountains. The first phase included the Rock & Roll Plaza, with its 1950s Main Street; the second phase encompassed the Carousel Park, with a 38-meter high, ornately latticed carousel, landscaped with whimsical topiaries in a French Parterre garden; and the third phase, The House of Cards with a special roller coaster ride and a new town center. A total of twelve major theme attractions are planned for complete development.

Akebien Membership Hotel

The Akebien Membership Hotel was created to be a destination resort accom-modation, featuring Japanese gardens with a Western design motif. Materials and the design of the Central Stone Garden are meant to evoke mysticism, history and romance. The Central Court and East and West Back Gardens are intended to provide solitude and serenity between Man and Nature.

Precisely because it is a "destination", the resort hopes to attract guests who will stay longer and explore more areas of the hotel. For this reason it was important, from the gardens to the guest suites, that all design elements were eloquent and consistent. Adding to the challenge of the resort design was the fact that the idyllic settings of the Nasu mountains and forest lie in a difficult climate: harsh winters and hot summers.

The hotel was designed in the style of a Renaissance French Chateau which expresses the grandeur, elegance and romance of another time. The parterre and water gardens are reminiscient of the moats which often surrounded Renaissance Chateaus of the past. Today, without the need for fortifications, the water serves to mirror and double the landscape, to connect the natural and the manmade environment. The contemporary setting of the hotel is enhanced by a reinterpreted, classical idea.

The landscape design incorporated the awe inspiring mountains and majestic forests of the site as borrowed scenery. The various stroll and view gardens, sun terrace

for the pool, and outdoor dining patio for the Garden Terrace Cafe are organized to integrate the landscape design with the natural setting and to reinforce the building as a major architectural statement.

Every aspect of the landscape design reflects man-made and natural elements and the synthesis of these two contrasting environments. In the midst of an undisturbed, densely-forested, rolling landscape, the site design interjects buildings and roadways, lawn gardens and open skies, and geometric lines.

Natural elements, such as stone, are treated in repeating, geometric patterns. Water appears both as lawn edged, naturally shaped retention ponds framed by graceful, water-loving trees and as rectilinear reflecting pools bordered by stone walls and straight, gravel pathways. Gardens adjacent to the building consistently repeat the theme of man and nature merging to form a new landscape experience. Guests pass through three zones of development, from the man-made through the transitional to the natural, and back again.

Nasu Highlands Country Club

The Nasu Highlands Country Club is an exclusive, Western-style membership club on a golf course designed by Robert Trent Jones II, International and an integral part of the Nasu Highlands. Here, the gardens are refined, ranging from the Great Lawn Terrace to small viewing gardens that extend into the forest setting.

The desire of the developer to create something unique and non-traditional has resulted in a resort area that is non-Japanese in expression but caters to the various interests, age-groups and economic strata of the people. Nasu Highlands succeeds in providing a playful, fun and adventurous experience.LASN