Universal Studios Japan to build new parks in Asia

USJ Co. Ltd., which runs the Universal Studios Japan theme park near Osaka under license from NBC Universal, has revealed plans to build new parks in Japan and Asia.

Among the candidate sites reported are the Japanese island of Okinawa; northern Kyushu (Japan’s third largest island); Jakarta, Indonesia; Mumbai, India and Taiwan. USJ plans to narrow this list down to one or two sites and finish construction of the new parks by the start of the Tokyo Olympics games in 2020.

Last December the company received a US$250 million injection from Hong Kong-based investment firm PAG. At that time USJ Co. Chairman Glenn Gumpel said the money would go for corporate recapitalisation and adding the recently opened Harry Potter attraction at Universal Studios Japan.

The new, more ambitious plan for new parks will require millions more, but USJ Co. has not yet said where the additional coin will come from.

In 2013 Universal Studio Japan recorded more than 10 million visitors for the first time since the park opened in 2001. But space for expansion beyond its current Osaka site is limited, prompting a search for new park sites in Japan and the Asia region.

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