is a

theme park An amusement park is a park that features various attractions, such as rides and games, as well as other events for entertainment purposes. A theme park is a type of amusement park that bases its structures and attractions around a central ...

located in

Osaka is a designated city in the Kansai region of Honshu in Japan. It is the capital of and most populous city in Osaka Prefecture, and the third most populous city in Japan, following Special wards of Tokyo and Yokohama. With a population of ...

, Japan. Opened on March 31, 2001, it is one of six Universal Studios theme parks worldwide and was the first to open outside the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...

. The park is owned and operated by a wholly owned subsidiary of

NBCUniversal NBCUniversal Media, LLC is an American multinational mass media and entertainment conglomerate corporation owned by Comcast and headquartered at 30 Rockefeller Plaza in Midtown Manhattan, New York City, United States. NBCUniversal is primaril ...

. The park is similar in layout to

Universal Studios Florida Universal Studios Florida (also known as Universal Studios or USF) is a theme park located in Orlando, Florida. Primarily themed to movies, television and other aspects of the entertainment industry, the park opened to the public on June 7, 1990 ...

and contains selected attractions from both

Universal Orlando Resort Universal Orlando Resort, commonly known as Universal Orlando or simply Universal, formerly Universal Studios Escape, is an American theme park and entertainment resort complex based in Orlando, Florida. The resort is operated by Universal Pa ...

and

Universal Studios Hollywood Universal Studios Hollywood is a film studio and theme park in the San Fernando Valley area of Los Angeles County, California. About 70% of the studio lies within the unincorporated county island known as Universal City while the rest lies w ...

, in addition to a small number of unique attractions. Over 11 million guests visited the park in its opening year, making it the fastest theme park to reach the 10 million guest milestone at the time. As of 2019, USJ is the fifth-most visited theme park in the world and the third-most visited in Japan behind

Tokyo Disneyland (local nickname ''TDL'') is a theme park at the Tokyo Disney Resort in Urayasu, Chiba Prefecture, Japan, near Tokyo. Its main gate is directly adjacent to both Maihama Station and Tokyo Disneyland Station. It was the first Disney park to ...

and Tokyo DisneySea.

History

In December 1992, Osaka Universal Planning Inc. was established in Minato-ku, Osaka to plan and research for the development and construction of a large-scale theme park in Japan. In February 1996, the master agreement regarding planning, construction and operation of the Universal Studios Japan theme park was concluded with American corporation

MCA Inc. MCA Inc. (originally an initialism for Music Corporation of America) was an American media conglomerate founded in 1924. Originally a talent agency with artists in the music business as clients, the company became a major force in the film ind ...

Osaka Universal Planning Inc. was also renamed USJ Co., Ltd. Licensing agreements regarding the planning, construction and operation of Universal Studios Japan was concluded with the Universal Group in 1998 and later that year, construction of the theme park officially began. The park opened on March 31, 2001.

Lands and attractions

The park covers . The attractions are spread across nine different areas of the park. A tenth area, The Wizarding World of Harry Potter, opened on 15 July 2014 with its flagship attraction, Harry Potter and the Forbidden Journey. The area was modeled on the areas of the same names at

Universal Orlando Universal Orlando Resort, commonly known as Universal Orlando or simply Universal, formerly Universal Studios Escape, is an American theme park and entertainment resort Building#Complex, complex based in Orlando, Florida. The resort is operate ...

and

. There are also attractions that are not in the United States and are unique to Universal Studios Japan, such as Black Lake and Hogwarts Express Photo Op. An eleventh area,

Super Nintendo World is a themed area at Universal Studios Japan, and under construction at Universal Studios Hollywood, Universal Studios Singapore and the upcoming Universal's Epic Universe at Universal Orlando Resort. A result of a partnership between Nintendo ...

, opened on 18 March 2021.

Hollywood

Based on the neighborhood of

Hollywood, Los Angeles Hollywood is a neighborhood in the central region of Los Angeles, California. Its name has come to be a shorthand reference for the U.S. film industry and the people associated with it. Many notable film studios, such as Columbia Pictures, ...

New York City

Based on the city of

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the Un ...

, New York.

San Francisco

Based on the city of

San Francisco San Francisco (; Spanish for " Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the fourth most populous in California and 17th ...

California California is a state in the Western United States, located along the Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the most populous U.S. state and the 3rd largest by area. It is also the m ...

Minion Park

An area inspired by the '' Despicable Me'' franchise. It opened in March 2017.

Jurassic Park

Inspired by Steven Spielberg's blockbuster film franchise of the same name.

Amity Village

Inspired by Steven Spielberg's '' Jaws'' film.

Universal Wonderland

Universal Wonderland is a section aimed at children and families. Opened in March 2012, it contains three themed sub-zones including Snoopy Studios, Hello Kitty's Fashion Avenue, and Sesame Street Fun Zone.

Snoopy Studio

Based on the ''

Peanuts ''Peanuts'' is a syndicated daily and Sunday American comic strip written and illustrated by Charles M. Schulz. The strip's original run extended from 1950 to 2000, continuing in reruns afterward. ''Peanuts'' is among the most popular and infl ...

'' comic strip. Snoopy Studios was originally its own standalone area, opening with the park in March 2001 before becoming part of Universal Wonderland in 2012.

Hello Kitty's Fashion Avenue

Themed to Sanrio's

Hello Kitty , also known by her full name , is a fictional Character (arts), character created by Yuko Shimizu, currently designed by Yuko Yamaguchi, and owned by the Japanese company Sanrio. Sanrio depicts Hello Kitty as an Anthropomorphism, anthropomorphi ...

franchise.

Sesame Street Fun Zone

Based on the children's television series ''

Sesame Street ''Sesame Street'' is an American educational children's television series that combines live-action, sketch comedy, animation and puppetry. It is produced by Sesame Workshop (known as the Children's Television Workshop until June 2000) ...

''. it is split into three areas - "Sesame Street Plaza", "Sesame Central Park" and "Elmo's Imagination Playland".

WaterWorld

Based on Universal Pictures' 1995 film of the same name.

The Wizarding World of Harry Potter

Based on Warner Bros Discovery's

Wizarding World The Wizarding World (previously known as J. K. Rowling's Wizarding World) is a fantasy media franchise and shared fictional universe centred on the ''Harry Potter'' novel series by J. K. Rowling. A series of films have been in production si ...

franchise.

Super Nintendo World

Based on several Nintendo franchises, focusing on Super Mario and its

Yoshi Yoshi is a fictional dinosaur who appears in video games published by Nintendo. Yoshi debuted in ''Super Mario World'' (1990) on the Super Nintendo Entertainment System as Mario and Luigi's sidekick. Yoshi is the title character of the ''Yoshi' ...

spin-off series. An expansion themed to the

Donkey Kong Country ''Donkey Kong Country'' is a 1994 platform game developed by Rare (company), Rare and published by Nintendo for the Super Nintendo Entertainment System (SNES). It is a Reboot (fiction), reboot of Nintendo's ''Donkey Kong'' franchise and foll ...

spin-off series is under construction.

Seasonal Overlays

Universal Studios Japan is one the best theme parks in the world at bringing new, fresh, and fun ideas to their guests. The park is consistently installing seasonal attraction and show overlays to delight their guests. Some include, Halloween Horror Night, Christmas, Easter, Summer, and Cool Japan.

Former attractions

Western

The Western Area, and with it, The Wild Wild Wild West Stunt Show and the '' Animal Actors Stage'' 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.

Land of Oz

The Western Area was replaced for 2006 with an area based on L. Frank Baum's '' Wizard of Oz'' book series. The land closed in February 2011 to make way for Universal Wonderland.

Awards

In 2011, USJ's Christmas tree was recognized by the

Guinness World Records ''Guinness World Records'', known from its inception in 1955 until 1999 as ''The Guinness Book of Records'' and in previous United States editions as ''The Guinness Book of World Records'', is a reference book published annually, listing world ...

as the most illuminated Christmas tree in the world having 260,498 lights. * The Amazing Adventures of Spider-Man - The Ride ** 2001 Screamscape Ultimate No.1 Favorite Overall Non-Coaster Thrill Ride ** 2002 Theme Park Insider World Best Theme Park Attraction * Animation Celebration ** 2002 THEA Award (presented by TEA) WINNER in Attraction * ''Peter Pan's Neverland'' ** 2007 THEA Award (presented by TEA) WINNER in Event Spectacular * The Gift of Angels ** 2009 Big E Award, Best Overall Production, (presented by IIAPA) WINNER in the category "Best Overall Production, More Than $2 Million" * Hollywood Dreams Parade ** 2009 Big E Award (presented by IIAPA): Honorable Mention in the category "Best Overall Production, More Than $2 Million" *

Space Fantasy – The Ride is a spinning roller coaster at Universal Studios Japan in Osaka, Japan. The ride opened on March 18, 2010, as a replacement for the E.T. Adventure dark ride. The ride is themed to a journey through space and features an array of special effects ...

** 2011 THEA Award (presented by TEA) winner in Outstanding Achievement

Attendance

Official hotels

There are five official hotels at or near the park: * Hotel Keihan Universal City
Hotel Kintetsu Universal City

Hotel Keihan Universal Tower

Hotel Universal Port
* Park Front Hotel at Universal Studios Japan

Incidents

In November 2004, a 35-year-old woman from Osaka Prefecture suffered nerve damage in her right wrist, affecting the use of two of her fingers. This occurred when her hand got stuck in a safety bar of the E.T. Adventure attraction as an employee pulled it down to secure it. In October 2022, an employee at the amusement park found human bones in shrubbery along a road west of the premises.

References

External links

* {{Authority control Amusement parks in Japan Buildings and structures in Osaka 2001 establishments in Japan Entertainment companies established in 2001 Tourist attractions in Osaka Amusement parks opened in 2001