Universal Studios Japan

Universal Studios Japan is obviously the most famous theme park 🎡 in the Kansai region. Real Mecca of theme parks for American blockbusters, it is one of the only two in the world located outside the USA, but remains based on Orlando's original park.

With its grand opening on March 31st 2001, it was the fourth most attended park in 2015, with close to 14 millions of visitors in 2015 (and more than 10 millions every year since 2013). Close to one million clients have an annual pass to visit the place whenever they want.

In April 2024, the park announced its aim to double the number of multilingual and foreign staff (180 in January 2024) so as to better cater to the international customer audience that increasingly visits USJ (25,07 million in 2023), especially from South Korea and Taiwan.

Another version in Okinawa, thought for some time, is not anymore part of Universal’s projects since May 2016.

Attractions on various themes

Based on an artificial island in Osaka Bay, USJ spreads on about 50 hectares (123 acres) and gathers several themed zones. The park currently harbors about 10 lands:

• Hollywood (Shrek…), New York City (Detective Conan…), San Francisco and Minion Park (Despicable Me…) since 2017;
• Jurassic Park, Waterworld, Amity Village (Jaws), and,
• Universal Wonderland (Snoopy, Hello Kitty and Sesame Street) for children.

The most recent and popular areas are designed as independant mini-parks within the park, and their access can be limited depending on the frequentation:

• The Wizarding World of Harry Potter, opened since mid-2014; and,
• The Super Nintendo World, opened in early 2021 and that continuously attracts crowds of Japanese and international visitors. It was enlarged in late 2024 to welcome the Donkey Kong Country extension. We returned to USJ to explore this wonderful land, to which a full article is dedicated:

Read more:

Super Nintendo World - The First Mario Theme Park in the World

Older attractions, such as Back to the future, ET, Oz or Wild Wild West have been replaced. Temporary attractions, while definitely out of the American empire, have a great impact and play local such as:

• One Piece, Dragon Ball, Attack on Titan, Evangelion, Sailor Moon or Lupin III based on mangas (in 2019, between May 31 to August 25, there was even an Eva vs Godzilla), Demon Slayers (2021, September 17 to 2022, February 13);
• Kyary Pamyu Pamyu, based on the successful J-pop singer;
• Or Final Fantasy XR, Biohazard (Resident Evil) and Monster Hunter, based on video games.

In October 2021, the Park signed a partnership with the Pokémon franchise, that included a Pikachu parade in summer 2022.

People love Universal Studios Japan for the roller-coasters (there are 5 of them in the park) as much as for the shows mixing movie-like animations and live performances. Moreover, the atmosphere is relaxed and the staff welcoming. Everybody can come in donning a character’s costume, especially in group in which cosplayers often choose to wear the biggest and easily recognizable hat! Souvenir shops selling merch’ goods are available almost everywhere, but they are not cheap.

Crowd, lines and prices

To fully enjoy all what USJ has to offer, a good amount of patience is required as well as a pretty fat wallet. The ambiance is set even before entering: if you do not arrive before the opening hour, the line starts as early as the ticket machines, even before the ticket booths. And prices are even higher than Tokyo Disneyland’s, already quite expensive! The big show with 3D and 4D effects is definitely on the receipt.

Ticket purchase at the door has been discontinued since April 2025, so ordering tickets online in advance is mandatory. The official Japanese or English website makes it impossible to order from overseas (as it only carries Japanese bank cards 💳), so we recommend to use the following partnering sites:

• Keikaku (in French, account not required); or,
• Klook (in English, account required).

And if you don't feel satisfied with the various souvenir shops you found along the way, the large Universal Citywalk gathers numerous goodies' stores of all kinds, restaurants with some prohibitive costs (among which a local takoyaki cuisine) as well as hotels 🏨 with direct views on the park.

Inside USJ, Hollywood’s glitters shine through the many movies and series represented. There is something for everyone and for all tastes, and even parents may enjoy again their childhood’s favorite films. The painting could be ideal if there were not so many people, Japanese and international tourists altogether, as well as a very loud environment, as the park is continuously flooded under Universal movies’ soundtracks.

With the completion of expansion works, development of hotels and arrival of very popular licenses, everybody rushes at the entrance gates, and it is not unusual to wait up more than 2 hours to try one attraction during the weekend. That is when the additional Express Pass comes in handy to:

• Be guaranteed access to the most popular lands such as the Super Nintendo World (under a daily cap); and,
• Benefit from no-queue tickets to shorten the wait at the attractions.

Even so, and despite the park being definitely exhausting, the Universal Studios Japan experience remains great and its success is guaranteed in a younger audience. Families, who may grow tired of visiting miscellaneous temples and other traditional and historical places, can also fully enjoy USJ!