(thatsbj.com)
Updated: 2008-03-19 10:15

Ranging from food to design, all kinds of Italian-imported goods are available in the shops and supermarkets. Authenticity is guaranteed, since the products you’re buying and eating are the real McCoy. Oven-baked pizzas and proper al dente spaghetti are served in restaurants. Hybrids such as pineapple-and-ham pizzas, chicken pastas or garlic bread –the classic marker by which Italians usually test the authenticity of a restaurant abroad –are not featured on menus. Even the espressos are the perfect size and strength, unless you insist on buying the tinned Japanese version from the vending machines just outside the village. On the specialist supermarket shelves you’ll find the same products available at grocery stores in Italy, both packed and fresh, from your favorite brand of biscotti to imported mortadella.

Yet food and clothing are not the only Italian imports in town. Villagio Italia’s musicians, gondoliers, and chefs are all Italians, and this is evident in the way they look and work. Indeed, nothing beats gazing up into the eyes of the Italian gondoliers as they punt you gently down the canals. Even the TV personalities hail from Italy: Nicola, Villaggio Italia’s showman, hosts a live quiz show on TV. His grin is plastered across posters everywhere, and he is regularly stopped by tourists, asking him to pose for a snapshot. In this little part of the world, he’s something of a celebrity.

Hidden behind a facade of pastel-colored buildings lies the heart of Villaggio Italia: a shopping mall with a pseudo-European atmosphere. It stocks all kinds of Italian-made products, from espresso machines to designer clothes and high-end furniture. In the foyer, a live orchestra offers a pleasant alternative to the tedious music you usually get in shopping malls. Weary shoppers can sit in front of the musicians, and recharge their batteries while listening to the soothing sounds of a live Rossini symphony.

It was while relaxing in the mall that I met Noriko and her friends, a merry posse of fiftysomething housewives. They explained that they love this little corner of Italy, and whenever possible, they leave their husbands at home and come to Villaggio Italia to shop like crazy. After having identified me as another bona fide Italian, they asked me if this place really felt like my home country. I confirmed to them that it’s amazingly realistic. However, there are little details that don’t match: Ice-cream cones here, for example, are square rather than round. “Square shapes are easier to stock,” explains Noriko. And therein lies Villagio Italia’s defining characteristic, which sets it apart from the original. This place is disturbingly rational, something that neither Venice, nor Italy, has ever been.

Most of the bits and pieces that have been assembled to make up this Japanese Venice are authentic, or at the very least, convincing. It’s the sum of all its parts that somehow feels too distilled and pure to be true. In a way you could argue that this place is more Italian than Italy itself. But Villaggio Italia reveals much more about contemporary Japan than it tells about Italy, and this is what makes it a great experience.

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