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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.
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
Business Times
20-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Business Times
New Japan theme park aims to tap 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 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 Jul 25. Costing some 70 billion yen (S$627 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 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. A NEWSLETTER FOR YOU Friday, 2 pm Lifestyle Our picks of the latest dining, travel and leisure options to treat yourself. Sign Up Sign Up 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 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 such as Disney's and USJ, could be easily replicated in other Asian markets such as 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
Straits Times
20-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Straits Times
New theme park in Japan's Okinawa aims to tap tourism boom, become springboard to Asian markets
New theme park in Japan's Okinawa aims to tap 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 July 25. Costing some 70 billion yen (S$626 million), the park is the brainchild of Mr Tsuyoshi Morioka, chief executive of entertainment firm Katana. The 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 in 2024. Their spending shot up 53 per cent 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. Mr 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, Mr 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. Mr 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, Mr 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 Mr 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 Join ST's Telegram channel and get the latest breaking news delivered to you.
Yahoo
20-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
New Japan theme park aims to tap tourism boom, become springboard to Asian markets
By Rocky Swift and Kentaro Okasaka TOKYO (Reuters) -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 ($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 ($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 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." ($1 = 144.84 yen)
