Latest news with #TsuyoshiMorioka
AsiaOne
21-05-2025
- AsiaOne
New theme park to open in Japan's Okinawa this July offering scenic treks, hot air balloon rides and more, Lifestyle News
Japan is one of the top travel destinations for Singaporeans — with a record of more than 690,000 travelling to the country from Singapore in 2024. Soon, travellers to Japan will have a new attraction to add to their itineraries as Junglia — a new theme park on the southern island of Okinawa — is set to open on July 25. The adventure park, spanning 600,000 sq m and built on an old golf course, is located in the forested area of Yambaru. Here, visitors can expect to explore more than 20 attractions ranging from scenic outdoor treks to buggy rides, as well as relaxing onsen facilities. According to its website, some highlights include the Dinosaur Safari; and Horizon Balloon, a hot air balloon ride offering a panoramic view of the area and surrounding greenery. There's also a tree-top trekking experience featuring a suspension bridge and nine challenging points hovering over the treetops, among others. The full list of attractions can be found on the theme park's official website. Apart from the activities, Junglia Okinawa is also home to Spa Junglia, which features both indoor and outdoor areas with views of the surrounding nature. Here, visitors can expect amenities such as an infinity bath, onsen, sauna, limestone bath and more. Other things that visitors can look out for at Junglia Okinawa include Junglia Splash Fest, a music and water festival experience and Junglia Night Fest, a dance and music festival featuring a grand finale of fireworks. The company behind the new park, which cost some 70 billion yen (S$627 million), is hoping Japan's tourism boom will get it off to a strong start, according to a Reuters article. CEO Tsuyoshi Morioka told Reuters he expects several thousand visitors a day to Junglia, and if it is successful, developing smaller attractions could be replicated in other Asian markets such as Taiwan and Indonesia. According to the website, a one-day ticket to the theme park costs 8,000 yen (around S$72) for adults and 5,400 yen for children. Spa tickets are 2,800 yen for adults and 1,700 yen for children. More information can be found on Junglia's official site. [[nid:685816]]
Japan Today
20-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Japan Today
New Okinawa theme park aims to tap tourism boom, become springboard to Asian markets
Tsuyoshi Morioka, CEO of marketing and entertainment firm Katana Inc, speaks during an interview with Reuters, in Tokyo on May 16. By Rocky Swift and Kentaro Okasaka The company behind a new nature adventure park on Japan's southern island of Okinawa is hoping the country's huge tourism boom will get it off to a raring start, and that with time propel the startup further into Asia and other markets. Junglia, a 60-hectare site built on an old golf course and featuring more than 20 attractions from a hot air balloon ride and buggy riding to treetop walking and a "Dinosaur Safari", is set to open on July 25. Costing some 70 billion yen, the park is the brainchild of Tsuyoshi Morioka, chief executive of entertainment firm Katana. Morioka, a theme park veteran, who is credited with turning around flagging attendance at Universal Studios Japan (USJ) in Osaka, by bringing in Harry Potter-themed attractions. Japan is experiencing an unprecedented boom in tourism, fueled by a weaker yen, with overseas visitors climbing 47% to a record 36.9 million last year. Their spending shot up 53% to 8.1 trillion yen, making tourism - which counts as an export in GDP data - the country's second biggest export sector after cars. The Japanese also love a good theme park with Tokyo's Disney resorts having enduring success and USJ, despite some early financial woes, proving popular. That said, many parks have also failed. Yu Shioji, the chairman of the Amusement Park Society of Japan, believes Junglia will have "almost no chance" of long-term success given that there are other nature adventure parks in Japan and its relatively high cost - 6,930 yen per day pass for locals and 8,800 yen for international visitors. While acknowledging long odds for long-term profitability for any amusement park, Morioka - who considers himself a maths nerd - said that by his calculations, Junglia has more than a 70% chance of success. He expects several thousand visitors a day to Junglia and says it can be profitable even if it only garners half the number of visitors of the nearby Okinawa Churaumi Aquarium, which has around 3 million per year. Morioka added that demand for theme parks and higher value-added tourism services in Japan is here to stay, given that many Asian countries are growing wealthier. "The weak yen is a tailwind, but the number of people who want to visit Japan will increase structurally regardless of the currency effect," he said. The Japanese government has said it wants to boost the number of overseas visitors to 60 million per year by 2030. If Junglia is successful, Morioka says developing smaller attractions that cost less than 100 billion yen, unlike mega theme parks like Disney's and USJ, could be easily replicated in other Asian markets like Taiwan and Indonesia. Listing Katana would be an option to fund future growth, he said, adding that he saw a lot of potential for theme parks built around Japanese anime if he can convince content creators to license their intellectual property. "I think it would be good if there was a third option in cities around the globe after Disney and Universal," said Morioka. "I want to develop niches where they can't go and create a third force in attractions in the world that originates from Japan." © Thomson Reuters 2025.
Malay Mail
20-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Malay Mail
Japan's Junglia theme park in Okinawa aims to ride tourism boom, expand into Asian markets
Junglia nature adventure park in Okinawa to open July 25 Park aims to take advantage of boom in overseas tourists Startup hopes park will be stepping stone into other Asia markets TOKYO, May 20 — The company behind a new nature adventure park on Japan's southern island of Okinawa is hoping the country's huge tourism boom will get it off to a raring start, and that with time propel the startup further into Asia and other markets. Junglia, a 60-hectare site built on an old golf course and featuring more than 20 attractions from a hot air balloon ride and buggy riding to treetop walking and a 'Dinosaur Safari', is set to open on July 25. Costing some ¥70 billion (RM2.7 billion), the park is the brainchild of Tsuyoshi Morioka, chief executive of entertainment firm Katana. Morioka, a theme park veteran, is credited with turning around flagging attendance at Universal Studios Japan (USJ) in Osaka, western Japan, by bringing in Harry Potter-themed attractions. Japan is experiencing an unprecedented boom in tourism, fuelled by a weaker yen, with overseas visitors climbing 47 per cent to a record 36.9 million last year. Their spending shot up 53 per cent to ¥8.1 trillion, making tourism — which counts as an export in GDP data — the country's second biggest export sector after cars. The Japanese also love a good theme park with Tokyo's Disney resorts (4661.T), opens new tab having enduring success and USJ, despite some early financial woes, proving popular. That said, many parks have also failed. Yu Shioji, the chairman of the Amusement Park Society of Japan, believes Junglia will have 'almost no chance' of long-term success given that there are other nature adventure parks in Japan and its relatively high cost — ¥6,930 per day pass for locals and ¥8,800 for international visitors. While acknowledging long odds for long-term profitability for any amusement park, Morioka — who considers himself a maths nerd — said that by his calculations, Junglia has more than a 70 per cent chance of success. He expects several thousand visitors a day to Junglia and says it can be profitable even if it only garners half the number of visitors of the nearby Okinawa Churaumi Aquarium, which has around 3 million per year. Morioka added that demand for theme parks and higher value-added tourism services in Japan is here to stay, given that many Asian countries are growing wealthier. 'The weak yen is a tailwind, but the number of people who want to visit Japan will increase structurally regardless of the currency effect,' he said. The Japanese government has said it wants to boost the number of overseas visitors to 60 million per year by 2030. If Junglia is successful, Morioka says developing smaller attractions that cost less than 100 billion yen, unlike mega theme parks like Disney's and USJ, could be easily replicated in other Asian markets like Taiwan and Indonesia. Listing Katana would be an option to fund future growth, he said, adding that he saw a lot of potential for theme parks built around Japanese anime if he can convince content creators to license their intellectual property. 'I think it would be good if there was a third option in cities around the globe after Disney and Universal,' said Morioka. 'I want to develop niches where they can't go and create a third force in attractions in the world that originates from Japan.' — Reuters
The Star
20-05-2025
- Entertainment
- The Star
New Japan theme park aims to tap tourism boom, become springboard to Asian markets
Junglia is set to open on July 25. - JUNGLIA_OKINAWA/X TOKYO: The company behind a new nature adventure park on Japan's southern island of Okinawa is hoping the country's huge tourism boom will get it off to a raring start, and that with time propel the startup further into Asia and other markets. Junglia, a 60-hectare site built on an old golf course and featuring more than 20 attractions from a hot air balloon ride and buggy riding to treetop walking and a "Dinosaur Safari", is set to open on July 25. Costing some 70 billion yen (US$634 million), the park is the brainchild of Tsuyoshi Morioka, chief executive of entertainment firm Katana. Morioka, a theme park veteran, is credited with turning around flagging attendance at Universal Studios Japan (USJ) in Osaka, western Japan, by bringing in Harry Potter-themed attractions. Japan is experiencing an unprecedented boom in tourism, fuelled by a weaker yen, with overseas visitors climbing 47% to a record 36.9 million last year. Their spending shot up 53% to 8.1 trillion yen ($55.6 billion), making tourism - which counts as an export in GDP data - the country's second biggest export sector after cars. The Japanese also love a good theme park with Tokyo's Disney resorts having enduring success and USJ, despite some early financial woes, proving popular. That said, many parks have also failed. Yu Shioji, the chairman of the Amusement Park Society of Japan, believes Junglia will have "almost no chance" of long-term success given that there are other nature adventure parks in Japan and its relatively high cost - 6,930 yen (US$48) per day pass for locals and 8,800 yen ($60) for international visitors. While acknowledging long odds for long-term profitability for any amusement park, Morioka - who considers himself a maths nerd - said that by his calculations, Junglia has more than a 70% chance of success. He expects several thousand visitors a day to Junglia and says it can be profitable even if it only garners half the number of visitors of the nearby Okinawa Churaumi Aquarium, which has around three million per year. Morioka added that demand for theme parks and higher value-added tourism services in Japan is here to stay, given that many Asian countries are growing wealthier. "The weak yen is a tailwind, but the number of people who want to visit Japan will increase structurally regardless of the currency effect," he said. The Japanese government has said it wants to boost the number of overseas visitors to 60 million per year by 2030. If Junglia is successful, Morioka says developing smaller attractions that cost less than 100 billion yen, unlike mega theme parks like Disney's and USJ, could be easily replicated in other Asian markets like Taiwan and Indonesia. Listing Katana would be an option to fund future growth, he said, adding that he saw a lot of potential for theme parks built around Japanese anime if he can convince content creators to license their intellectual property. "I think it would be good if there was a third option in cities around the globe after Disney and Universal," said Morioka. "I want to develop niches where they can't go and create a third force in attractions in the world that originates from Japan." - Reuters
CNA
20-05-2025
- Entertainment
- CNA
New Okinawa theme park aims to tap Japan's tourism boom, become springboard to Asian markets
TOKYO: The company behind a new nature adventure park on Japan's southern island of Okinawa is hoping the country's huge tourism boom will get it off to a raring start, and that with time propel the startup further into Asia and other markets. Junglia, a 60ha site built on an old golf course and featuring more than 20 attractions from a hot air balloon ride and buggy riding to treetop walking and a "Dinosaur Safari", is set to open on Jul 25. Costing some ¥70 billion (US$634 million), the park is the brainchild of Tsuyoshi Morioka, chief executive of entertainment firm Katana. Morioka, a theme park veteran, is credited with turning around flagging attendance at Universal Studios Japan (USJ) in Osaka, western Japan, by bringing in Harry Potter-themed attractions. Japan is experiencing an unprecedented boom in tourism, fuelled by a weaker yen, with overseas visitors climbing 47 per cent to a record 36.9 million last year. Their spending shot up 53 per cent to ¥8.1 trillion, making tourism - which counts as an export in GDP data - the country's second biggest export sector after cars. The Japanese also love a good theme park with Tokyo's Disney resorts having enduring success and USJ, despite some early financial woes, proving popular. That said, many parks have also failed. Yu Shioji, the chairman of the Amusement Park Society of Japan, believes Junglia will have "almost no chance" of long-term success given that there are other nature adventure parks in Japan and its relatively high cost - ¥6,930 yen per day pass for locals and ¥8,800 yen for international visitors. While acknowledging long odds for long-term profitability for any amusement park, Morioka - who considers himself a maths nerd - said that by his calculations, Junglia has more than a 70 per cent chance of success. He expects several thousand visitors a day to Junglia and says it can be profitable even if it only garners half the number of visitors of the nearby Okinawa Churaumi Aquarium, which has around 3 million per year. Morioka added that demand for theme parks and higher value-added tourism services in Japan is here to stay, given that many Asian countries are growing wealthier. "The weak yen is a tailwind, but the number of people who want to visit Japan will increase structurally regardless of the currency effect," he said. The Japanese government has said it wants to boost the number of overseas visitors to 60 million per year by 2030. If Junglia is successful, Morioka says developing smaller attractions that cost less than ¥100 billion, unlike mega theme parks like Disney's and USJ, could be easily replicated in other Asian markets like Taiwan and Indonesia. Listing Katana would be an option to fund future growth, he said, adding that he saw a lot of potential for theme parks built around Japanese anime if he can convince content creators to license their intellectual property. "I think it would be good if there was a third option in cities around the globe after Disney and Universal," said Morioka. "I want to develop niches where they can't go and create a third force in attractions in the world that originates from Japan."
