Millthorpe is well-known as a tourism destination in New South Wales, but on the 24th of January the town will be host to 30 or more Japanese tourists coming to enjoy the town’s heritage architecture.
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Hans and Jackie Reinhardt from the Wood Blind Factory will be hosting the tour group that will also be camping out within the grounds of the factory.
Shuji Yamada, founder of the Yamada Takken Co, visited Millthorpe during winter 2016 and was taken by the character of the village.
“His company in Japan has franchises all over Japan and what they do is they build houses that are not Japanese and are basically French provincial from the 1500’s to the early 20th century,” Mr Reinhardt said. “They’re very plain on the outside, but on the inside they’re just so different to what is built here in Australia today.”
Mr Reinhardt said that Mr Yamada won’t purchase anything from China and is always looking for new materials and influences from his travels.
“He buys from Germany and the United States and he’s looking in Australia to see what suits him, maybe things like recycled timber flooring, mini-orb or old sleepers.”
Spokesperson Yoshi Morimoto said that Mr Yamada wants to share his love of county style of living, and passion of building houses like the house of Millthorpe, with the Japanese people.
“Millthorpe was sensational for him. He found that this tiny village was his ideal place. Every single house, pedestrian streets, even rotting timber fences are exactly what he wants to build in Japan. For him, Millthorpe is what he dreamt of, a real historical traditional country life.”
The visitors won’t just be getting the standard tourist treatment of anonymous motel rooms, their accommodation will certainly be unique.
“They’re all staying in tents outside the factory and we’ll also have a local band to play them some music,” he said, “They have even requested a playlist that includes The Beatles and music from that era, nothing too modern.”
One of the other attractions will be Mr Reinhardt’s animal collection including alpaca’s, a donkey, a goat and a 36 year old cockatoo.
“When he visited he loved the animals because where they are from they don’t have pets like that. They might just have a goldfish, a bird or a little dog.”
“He took a picture of the donkeys and the alpacas and used it as the cover of one of his internal documents,” he said.
During the groups short visit they will also be enjoying an Australian style breakfast at another of Mr Yamada’s favourite places, the Old Mill Cafe.