Features
Universal Okinawa?
Last fall, the government of Japan announced it would support Universal Studios Japan Co. if it decided to build a theme park in the prefecture of Okinawa.
Photo: momopy
USJ president Glenn Gumpel announced on March 18 the company decided to go through with the plan. According to Variety, the park will be built in the “vicinity of Neo Park Okinawa,” a zoo in the city of Nago where the animals live in “natural habitats.”
No details or time frame have been set out for the park, but Gumpel said it will be smaller than the Universal Studios facility in Osaka.
More significantly, the park’s design will look to Okinawa “for inspiration” rather than Hollywood. It is well known that the Japanese government desires to increase the number of tourists who visit the prefecture, which is the poorest in the country.
Okinawa is home to the largest contingent of American armed forces in Japan, and residents are divided as to whether they want American bases to stay.
The government thinks that if more private enterprise relocated to Okinawa, the economy would pick up and the American presence would not seem like such a burden.