Universal Studios Japan

Universal Studios Japan
The Universal Globe
Location	Konohana-ku, Osaka, Japan
Coordinates	34°39′53″N 135°25′59″E
Website	Official Website
Owner	USJ Co., Ltd. (subsidiary of Goldman Sachs)
Opened	March 31, 2001
Visitors (per annum)	8,000,000 (2010)
Area	54 ha

Universal Studios Japan

Universal Studios Japan (ユニバーサル・スタジオ・ジャパン, Yunibāsaru Sutajio Japan), located in Osaka, is one of four Universal Studios theme parks, owned and operated by USJ Co., Ltd. The park is similar to Universal Orlando Resort, since it contains many of the same rides. Most visitors are Japanese tourists or tourists from other Asian countries such as Taiwan, Hong Kong, and South Korea. In 2005 Goldman Sachs became the largest shareholder in Universal Studios Japan. Universal still has a small minority stake in the park. The park opened on March 31, 2001. 11 million guests entered Universal Studios Japan in its first year of operation, the fastest any park reached that milestone.

Attractions

The attractions are in nine areas of the park.

New York

• The Amazing Adventures of Spider-Man - The Ride
• Terminator 2:3-D

Hollywood

4-D Theatre

• Shrek's 4-D Adventure
• Sesame Street 4-D Movie Magic
• Universal Monsters Live Rock and Roll Show
• Animation Celebration 3D
• Hollywood Dream - The Ride
• Space Fantasy: The Ride
• Magical Starlight Parade
• Fantastic World

San Francisco

• Back to the Future - The Ride
• Backdraft

Jurassic Park

• Jurassic Park: The Ride

Snoopy Studios

Snoopy Studios entrance

• Snoopy's Great Race
• Peppermint Patty's Stunt Slide
• The Flying Snoopy

Hello Kitty Fashion Avenue

• Hello Kitty's Cupcake Dream

Sesame Street Fun Zone

Elmo's Imagination Playland:

• Elmo's Bubble Bubble
• Abby's Magical Party
• Moppy's Lucky Dance Party
• Big Bird's Big Nest
• Grover's Construction Company
• Bert and Ernie's Wonder-The Sea

Sesame Central Park:

• Sesame's Big Drive
• Big Bird's Climbing Nest
• Abby's Magical Tree
• Abby's Magical Garden
• Water Garden
• Cookie Monster Slide
• Ernie's Rubber Duckie Race

Sesame Street Plaza:

• Elmo's Little Drive
• Big Bird's Big Top Circus

Lagoon

• Peter Pan's Neverland

Water World

• Waterworld: A Live Sea War Spectacular

Amity Village

• Jaws

Land of Oz (closed in 2011)

The Wizard of Oz statues.

• Wicked
• Toto & Friends
• Magical Oz-Go-Round

Former attractions

The former E.T. Adventure.

• The Western Area, and with it The Wild Wild Wild West Stunt Show and the Animal Actors show, were revamped to become Land of Oz in 2006. This involved completely re-theming two live shows, one restaurant, and a number of retail facilities.
  • The Wild Wild Wild West Stunt Show was a live stunt show based upon a wide variety of Universal's Western films. Opening on 31 March 2001, in the Western Town section of the park, the show featured several cowboy themed actors surviving death defying stunts, shootings and explosions. The show closed in 2006 and has since been replaced by Wicked.
• E.T. Adventure has been replaced by Space Fantasy: The Ride

Trivia

The PEANUTS Characters, usually featured at Cedar Fair parks in North America, are controlled by Universal Studios in Japan.

Controversy

Environmental concerns

Universal Studios Japan is located in the Konohana waterfront district, on land previously occupied by Sumitomo Metal Industries. The site selection was controversial due to contamination issues.

During its 25-year occupancy, ending 1989, Sumitomo buried over 700,000 tons of materials laced with PCBs, heavy metals, and other carcinogens. Nao Watano, the former director of a waste disposal company subcontracted by Sumitomo, told The Japan Times, "We dumped the solid metal waste out in the open, piled it up, and then just covered it with dirt as ordered by Sumitomo. We did not encase it or anything to protect it from the elements."

After discovering this environmental disaster in 1986, the environmental protection agency ordered a perfunctory cleanup but, according to the weekly magazine Kansai Jitsuwa, the city was not aware of the full extent of the problem and no major remediation occurred.

Further environmental testing went ahead in 1998. It revealed overwhelming environmental damage. Chlorine contamination was 12 times higher than the Japanese standard, lead 1.7 times, arsenic 3.5 times, mercury 1.2 times and selenium 15 times higher. High concentrations of chromium, a metal believed to cause lung cancer, were also found.

At the time, Yoneko Matsura of Osaka's Mihariban Citizens' Watchdog Group accused Sumitomo of deceiving the city and the public about the contamination. "We have lost faith in the Universal Studios project and no longer trust either the city or Universal Studios Japan to build an environmentally safe theme park," Matsura wrote.

Lawsuits

In November 2004, a 35-year-old woman from Osaka Prefecture suffered nerve damage in her right wrist, resulting in the loss of use of two of her fingers and ultimately lost her job. This occurred when her hand got stuck in a safety bar of the E.T. attraction as an employee pulled it down to secure it. The woman sued the park and received JP¥14 million in an out-of-court settlement.

See also

• Incidents at Universal parks
• Tourism in Japan

External links

• Universal Studios Japan