Hello guys! As some of you know, I’m currently living in Okinawa, Japan (but on a whole separate island from the parks, or I’d frequent them, mind you 
) and I finally got the opportunity to travel to Universal Studios Japan. It was my first major trip anywhere by myself, as well as my first “solo” theme park trip (to change later down the line…). I had originally planned on checking out their version of Halloween Horror Nights, but not only did I know that it’s less spectacular than the version in Orlando, but I figured I’d see something uniquely Japan. In the summertime they have this event based around an extremely popular anime called One Piece (it just happens to be one of my favorites as well), called “One Piece Premier Summer.” The park features lots of themed food in all of the restaurants, decorations, merchandise… well, you’ll see what I mean. Sections of the park were completely decked out in One Piece theming. Osaka's not much of a tourist trap persay - people looking for attractions usually come for Universal, but I did head out into the city once to find a Disney Store (my island doesn't have any ), so I'll show you a bit of that too. :smiley:
Part 1: The Travel
I flew out at the butt crack of dawn or at least the earliest flight I could get, in hopes of getting maximum park time even though I knew full well that it wasn’t the largest park I’d ever get to go to and thus wouldn't need a thousand hours to do everything.
Since there's not much else tourists go to Osaka for, there's advertisements for it everywhere - even on the airport elevators!
I did get a little lost in the airport, because unlike Tokyo or the American saturated island I'm on, it's not as English friendly or western as I would have desired, but most Japanese have a handle on English anyways and they're very friendly and waiting to help you out. Much to my surprise, I only saw a handful of any Americans, British, etc. there. Probably 4. The park was geared way more towards local tourists than international ones! But more on that later. I had to take a train from the airport to the hotel I stayed at, with only one train change I had to do. It was kind of funny, because I was way unsure about whether or not I was getting on the right train at the airport, so I would walk on and walk off and try to ask random people if it was the right one, but most didn't understand me. Eventually I boarded and figured out that it was the right one and was on there for a good 40 minutes before I had to change. There wasn't much scenery-wise to take a picture of. It was mostly just buildings packed together (nothing is as spread out as it is in America anywhere in Japan) that weren't very visually appealing. We did go past the water a few times, and we passed the Ferris Wheel on the way, though.
The end station was indeed Universal City. There was legitimately nowhere else to go at that station but Citywalk! And with the yen to dollar rate (which I'm unfortunately used to) sucked, so it was pretty expensive.
At the airport, they even had a sign specifically telling you the directions to Universal on the trains.
They had advertisements for the kid friendly Halloween event on the trains, and various other places. There aren't really billboards in Japan, though there are some ads on the side of buildings, so that part of the amping up wasn't really present. Anyways, there was a lot of prep for the event at the park, since I went at the end of the One Piece event, with the Halloween events (there was more than one) starting the next week.
Finally here, and mega excited!! (Note: Due to my location, I haven't been to a theme park [aside from a tiny one in South Korea called Lotte World] since summer of 2010) And the blue platypuses aren't really relevant. They're a company mascot that happens to sponsor Universal, or the train line. I never figured out which, but concerning the train stations they were everywhere.
This is a wall before you exit the station into Citywalk (obviously meant for people leaving the park). I'm sure you've noticed by now that all of the advertising is full of Sesame Street, Hello Kitty, and Snoopy advertising. I was a little surprised by it for many reasons, such as how Sesame Street is part of Busch Gardens in the states, etc. For one, the characters for kids tend to take a backseat to everyone else attraction wise in advertising, merch, etc. in the states, but here you'll be lucky to find merchandise that doesn't have them on it (and boy do they make a lot of money off of it... everybody was decked out in it). It's like they're the main focus of the park, and the rest of it takes a backseat. What's still funny is that the Wonderland section (their "Kidzone") was not only the biggest section of the park, but it's not like only kids were in there. The Japanese were eating it up!! They love the characters and the attractions, and found much joy in it. Anyways, just a little blurb to keep in mind while you're reading. :smiley:
Interestingly enough, more than half (and I'd say it's quite a bit more than half) of the people are frequent visitors! They've all been there, done that, and already are ready to be on their way in the parks. It's like everybody is one of us, and it was a pleasant surprise!
Next up... Citywalk and the Hotel Experience
) and I finally got the opportunity to travel to Universal Studios Japan. It was my first major trip anywhere by myself, as well as my first “solo” theme park trip (to change later down the line…). I had originally planned on checking out their version of Halloween Horror Nights, but not only did I know that it’s less spectacular than the version in Orlando, but I figured I’d see something uniquely Japan. In the summertime they have this event based around an extremely popular anime called One Piece (it just happens to be one of my favorites as well), called “One Piece Premier Summer.” The park features lots of themed food in all of the restaurants, decorations, merchandise… well, you’ll see what I mean. Sections of the park were completely decked out in One Piece theming. Osaka's not much of a tourist trap persay - people looking for attractions usually come for Universal, but I did head out into the city once to find a Disney Store (my island doesn't have any ), so I'll show you a bit of that too. :smiley:Part 1: The Travel
I flew out at the butt crack of dawn or at least the earliest flight I could get, in hopes of getting maximum park time even though I knew full well that it wasn’t the largest park I’d ever get to go to and thus wouldn't need a thousand hours to do everything.
Since there's not much else tourists go to Osaka for, there's advertisements for it everywhere - even on the airport elevators!
I did get a little lost in the airport, because unlike Tokyo or the American saturated island I'm on, it's not as English friendly or western as I would have desired, but most Japanese have a handle on English anyways and they're very friendly and waiting to help you out. Much to my surprise, I only saw a handful of any Americans, British, etc. there. Probably 4. The park was geared way more towards local tourists than international ones! But more on that later. I had to take a train from the airport to the hotel I stayed at, with only one train change I had to do. It was kind of funny, because I was way unsure about whether or not I was getting on the right train at the airport, so I would walk on and walk off and try to ask random people if it was the right one, but most didn't understand me. Eventually I boarded and figured out that it was the right one and was on there for a good 40 minutes before I had to change. There wasn't much scenery-wise to take a picture of. It was mostly just buildings packed together (nothing is as spread out as it is in America anywhere in Japan) that weren't very visually appealing. We did go past the water a few times, and we passed the Ferris Wheel on the way, though.
The end station was indeed Universal City. There was legitimately nowhere else to go at that station but Citywalk! And with the yen to dollar rate (which I'm unfortunately used to) sucked, so it was pretty expensive.
At the airport, they even had a sign specifically telling you the directions to Universal on the trains.
They had advertisements for the kid friendly Halloween event on the trains, and various other places. There aren't really billboards in Japan, though there are some ads on the side of buildings, so that part of the amping up wasn't really present. Anyways, there was a lot of prep for the event at the park, since I went at the end of the One Piece event, with the Halloween events (there was more than one) starting the next week.
Finally here, and mega excited!! (Note: Due to my location, I haven't been to a theme park [aside from a tiny one in South Korea called Lotte World] since summer of 2010) And the blue platypuses aren't really relevant. They're a company mascot that happens to sponsor Universal, or the train line. I never figured out which, but concerning the train stations they were everywhere.
This is a wall before you exit the station into Citywalk (obviously meant for people leaving the park). I'm sure you've noticed by now that all of the advertising is full of Sesame Street, Hello Kitty, and Snoopy advertising. I was a little surprised by it for many reasons, such as how Sesame Street is part of Busch Gardens in the states, etc. For one, the characters for kids tend to take a backseat to everyone else attraction wise in advertising, merch, etc. in the states, but here you'll be lucky to find merchandise that doesn't have them on it (and boy do they make a lot of money off of it... everybody was decked out in it). It's like they're the main focus of the park, and the rest of it takes a backseat. What's still funny is that the Wonderland section (their "Kidzone") was not only the biggest section of the park, but it's not like only kids were in there. The Japanese were eating it up!! They love the characters and the attractions, and found much joy in it. Anyways, just a little blurb to keep in mind while you're reading. :smiley:
Interestingly enough, more than half (and I'd say it's quite a bit more than half) of the people are frequent visitors! They've all been there, done that, and already are ready to be on their way in the parks. It's like everybody is one of us, and it was a pleasant surprise!
Next up... Citywalk and the Hotel Experience
