No, the former president didn't live in Japan as a child. This is an odd but true story. In Nago, on the main Okinawan Island, a Japanese businessman constructed an exact replica of Bill Clinton's childhood home in Hope, Arkansas. The home was completed in the year 2000, when Mr. Clinton visited the island for the G-8 summit, although there is no record of him visiting the home.
ABC News reported the cost of the house, complete with imported period-appropriate furniture and appliances from antique stores in the USA, cost $730,000 USD. For awhile it was a popular tourist attraction, but now seems to be forgotten. It is on the private property of the Kanucha Bay Resort, across from the golf course in Nago, northern Okinawa.
I visited Nago but I didn't know about this home at the time. If I get to travel to Okinawa again, I would like to have a look at this place. I'm not such a big fan of the former president, but I am curious to see what the home he grew up in was like.
Here are the directions from the Stars and Stripes website:
Clinton House, Kanucha Bay Resort, Okinawa
Directions
Kanucha Bay Resort (www.kanucha.jp/en), with its hotel, villas, restaurants and golf course, is located at 156-2 Abu, Nago-shi, Okinawa-ken, 905-2263. To get there, head north on the expressway to Nago and take 329 to 331.
Times
The Clinton House is not open for tours, but visitors can view it anytime.
5 comments:
What an idea! Is the climate in Arkansas similar to that of Okinawa?
Interesting thing to do.
That seems quite bizarre! Especially spending so much. Shipping antique furniture across the ocean also seems a bit over the top. I would think you could get Japanese cabinet makers to create new pieces based on photos for a lot less.
How interesting. And a little odd. Oh, what one could do with what went into that house!
Well...people need hobbies, I guess. But imagine how much crafting supplies you could get with that kind of money!
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