Universal Studios Japan ユニバーサルスタジオジャパン

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It was a tough week. There was alot of rain, I was sick, U.S. news is not very cheery, the Hanshin Tigers baseball game that we had tickets for was cancelled (due to rain), and we've been thinking about some pretty big questions lately, so things have been a little stressful. What are two foreigners to do? Engage in some good ol' escapist American fun and head to a theme park! We spent Saturday at Universal Studios Japan, about 2 hours away in Osaka.
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The JR train takes guests right up to the entrance of the City Walk. The station is called 'Universal City'. Here's Joe on the City Walk, which has lots of restaurants and shops.
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At the gates of the park.
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We went on the Jurassic Park ride first.
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Our second attraction was Backdraft, which is a show that describes the special effects of the movie. The dialog was in Japanese, but we caught enough to get it, and the effects didn't need transation. In line we saw this sign, which cracked us up.
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Being at Universal was a little bit like taking a day trip to the U.S. The signs were all in English and the props were in English, so for example in the New York area the sewer covers said NY Waterworks. It was nice to have a mental break from language for the day. We also enjoyed eating lots of American-style food. For lunch it was Fish and Chips in an Irish pub-themed restaurant.
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After lunch we went on the Spiderman ride, probably our favorite of the day.
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Next was Back to the Future.
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We took a break to enjoy the beautiful weather and have some gelatto in the mid-afternoon.
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After our gelatto break we ran into the Halloween parade. Here's the Sesame Street float. Note the American flag in the background.
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Hello Kitty float!!
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We walked over to the Land of Oz, as we had to give a shout out to our former Kansas home.
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Joe on the Yellow Brick Road.
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A munchkin trying to decide on green tea or soda.
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On our way to the Hollywood Dream roller coaster Joe had a run in with a stormtrooper.
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Evening at the park. We just came from the Hollywood Dream coaster, our second favorite ride, and are on our way to the Termanator show.
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After Termanator we came across the Blues Brothers!
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We stopped by the Hello Kitty shop for a bit at the end of the day.
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Kitty topiary.
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Some things were completely not the same as the U.S. Universal. This photo shows the souvenir snacks from Jaws- dried curry flavored ika (squid).
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To complete our theme day we had dinner at Hard Rock Cafe on the citywalk. This was amazing because they had a veggieburger! The last veggieburger either one of us had was on our last night in the U.S. We also ate some tasty nachos, complete with pinto beans (not easy to find here) and really good salsa.
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To finish off the meal- pumpkin pie.
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At the station on our way home. The trains running to Universal are themed on the exterior.
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A photo of our puri-kura. This is a popular activity in Japan (especially amongst high schoolers) where you take photos in a booth and add different themed characters, writing, or icons.
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Our day was exactly what we needed, relaxing and fun, a little bit of escapism. We had beautiful weather for our "day in America" and ate lots of tasty food, probably more than I eat in two regular days in Japan. This was Joe's first trip to a Universal park, and he enjoyed it alot. I've been to Universal Hollywood, and this was quite different. From the reviews I read online Universal Japan and Universal Orlando are very similar. We didn't have quite enough time to see everything in one day, but we hit all of the rides and shows that we wanted to. Definitely a great day!