Living in Tokyo grants you easy access to Disneyland. Living in Osaka grants you easy access to Universal Studios. From where I live, this place was only a little over an hour away by public transit! I’ve never been to the one in the states or anything similar so I’m not sure what to expect or how it is even since I never had the desire to go. My Japanese friend has been wanting to take me here since September but with busy life and all, we didn’t get to go until December XD.

You know you’re going the right way to USJ when you come across this train. Even though it was my first time going to USJ, I had no problem getting there on my own since the train ride was very simple. Just had to transfer to another line, JR Osaka, to get to Universal City station. It was easy enough to spot on the map and if in doubt, I could have just followed the crowd that looked like they were going to USJ as well. One of the neat things that I have learned about traveling in Japan so far is that if you are going to a popular or modern place/landmark after getting off of the station, just follow the flow of huge crowd in the area (usually the station you get off) and you’ll end up there.

 

Welcome to Universal Studios Japan!

If there is anything I know about Universal Studios at all before coming here, it would only be this globe.

Entrance fee: 6000 yen *cries*

Woah… I know it’s a big theme park and all but this place is a really big theme park! And I actually feel like I am out of Japan for once.

Classic American cars in front of an American burger shop. It doesn’t get any more American than this!

So much to see, so much to do, so little time…

First ride of the day: Back to the Future! Heard about this ride so much but never knew exactly just “what” is it.

MIRAI KITAAAAA!

Couldn’t really take photos inside as it was quite dark and photos weren’t allowed inside the ride as well (safety measures). After waiting in line for 40+ minutes outside, we finally went in. There were many screens that shows the Prof, who was dubbed in Japanese, briefing you on your mission: a rascal broke into the lab and stole the Delorean and it’s up to us to stop him and bring back the car. Cue the epic adventure on a real scale model of the Delorean in front of a giant panoramic screen. Loads of violent shaking, seizure-inducing images, and dry ice smoke. So that’s what this ride was all about :D

While still trying to recover from the Back to the Future ride, we head to the Spider Man ride!

Inside the “Daily Bugle” where you can see the dictatorship of JJJ.

Like a BOSS.

Apparently, we were lucky for coming on a “slow day” but even then the wait was over an hour long. On a busy day, the wait can hit over two hours O_O

Once again, the briefing “story” to the ride is dubbed over in Japanese again and it was really loud so it was hard to make out what they were saying. If I remember correctly, the Daily Bugle invented this vechicle called the “Scoop” to pick up news and we, the “reporters”, are given the task of using it to provide coverage on the group of villains (Doc Ock, Shocker, Hydroman, Hobgoblin and a couple of others) who stole the Statue of Liberty with a laser beam. Gee… Thanks for putting us in danger, JJJ.

Put on the 3D glasses and let’s get rolling!

That was a fun ride. Getting in the way of the villains, getting Spidey to save us and finally putting an end to their evil deeds. All in a matter of 5 minutes. Why am I not surprised to find myself inside the Spider-Man store after exiting the ride?

I love Spidey and all but… not enough to wear this ^^;.

So in a matter of maybe two and a half hours, I’ve experienced roughly 10 minutes of actual joyriding. That’s a popular theme park for you I guess.

Too many photos in one post makes this whole laggy (for me at least) so continue in the next post!