Last Updated on March 4, 2023 by Nouman kaleem
A theme park located in Konohana Ward, Osaka City, Osaka Prefecture. Opened in 2001. It was planned as the development of Universal Studios, an American theme park affiliated with Universal Pictures, a major American movie company, in Japan. There are movies such as “Spider-Man”, “Jurassic Park”, “And Jaws”, animated films such as “Shrek”, and attractions with themes such as Snoopy and Hello Kitty.
The Sakurajima district of Konohana Ward, where the park is located, was a landfill with large factories lined up as the core of the Hanshin Industrial Area. Since the 1980s, companies have withdrawn due to the decline in the weight of heavy industry, and vacant lots have been vacant. In the 90s, Osaka City proposed the area to Universal Studios, which was considering expanding into Japan, for effective use of the land and industrial promotion. It is operated by USJ Co., Ltd., which was established as a third sector in which Osaka City has a majority stake. In the first year, the number of visitors was 11 million, but since then it has been sluggish at about 8 million, and management has been difficult due to debt repayment and interest payments. In 2005, Goldman Sachs of the United States took over the company and carried out refinancing, and proceeded with the restructuring of management. As a result of aggressive measures to attract customers, the number of visitors has continued to increase since 2011, reaching a cumulative total of 100 million in 2012 and exceeding 10 million annually in 2013.
Since there is no room to increase attractions on the current site, the company announced in 2014 that it plans to build a theme park of the same size outside of Kansai. It is said that it is narrowing down the candidate sites to Japan and Asian countries with the aim of opening before the 20th Tokyo Olympics. It is said that the construction cost is several hundred billion yen, and it is expected to attract overwhelming customers even after the opening.
Osaka City’s theme park “Universal Studios Japan” (USJ) announced on the 22nd that it will end the operation of the suspended attraction “Attack on Titan XR Ride” ahead of its original schedule.
