Cest La Vie Resort, which in practice serves as the parent company of the Italian-themed village, filed for corporate rehabilitation in the court the same day.

Hajime Tanaka, president of the village company, announced that about 300 employees had been dismissed as of Wednesday.

The Villagio Italia company was established in 2004, with a 75 percent financial contribution from the Cest La Vie group. In April the following year the company opened the village as a commercial facility that recreated an Italian townscape. It secured a 15-year lease of the land from the Nagoya Port Authority.

In its first year of operation, when the Aichi Expo was held, the village had about 4.35 million visitors. In the second year, however, visitor numbers plunged to 1.69 million, and sales at stores in the village slumped. In the financial period ending in February 2007, a loss of more than 1 billion yen was registered.

In March this year, it was discovered that wooden structures in the facility violated a municipal ordinance, adding to the village's business troubles.

Cest La Vie Resort was founded in February 1994. It expanded into the food market, creating various subsidiaries including the Japanese-style pub chain Kita no Kazoku, and recorded sales of 12.4 billion yen for the financial period ending in June 2003, but had borrowed heavily from financial institutions.

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(Mainichi Japan) May 7, 2008