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The story
The Yomiuri Shimbun reports that Universal Studios Japan (USJ) in Osaka’s Konohana Ward is in final talks to lease an adjacent site of roughly 60,000 square meters — the former Nippon Steel plant — for a major expansion. The lease is expected to be signed as early as spring 2028, with demolition of the plant already underway since around April 2026. On 5ch’s Newsflash+ (Nyusu Sokuho+) thread, users repeatedly wished for new Nintendo- or Pokémon-themed areas, while others speculated that the whole Osaka Bay Area would grow in tandem with the Yumeshima IR (integrated resort) construction and reuse of the Expo site. The thread also noted that USJ had denied a related Nikkei report the same day, sparking discussion over how such news should be handled ahead of an official announcement.
Published 8/28 (Fri) 1:01 PM — Yomiuri Shimbun Online
It was learned on the 28th that those involved are in final talks to substantially expand the theme park “Universal Studios Japan (USJ)” in Osaka’s Konohana Ward. The plan calls for using roughly 60,000 square meters of land owned by the city of Osaka and others, adjacent to the park’s north side, with the aim of opening new attractions there. The city of Osaka is expected to make an announcement soon.
According to multiple sources, the planned expansion site is the former Nippon Steel plant. It currently comprises land owned by the company as well as land the city leases to it, and the operating company, USJ Co., Ltd., plans to lease both. A lease agreement is expected to be signed as early as spring 2028. The plant has already ceased operations, with demolition underway since around April 2026.
Source: news.yahoo.co.jp / Original article here
What people said
How does it compare to Disney?
Both USJ and Disney are packed, it's rough
It's worth going, but
Ise-Shima Spain Village Parque España is better
Barely anyone there, zero line-waiting stress
I'd say yes
Only went once but it was fun
If you're coming from the Kanto area, an Express Pass is a must
Tokyo Disney is totally washed up at this point — who's even still going?
It's only a matter of time before Shanghai Disney overtakes it too.
🧁🥄World Theme Park Rankings
1. Magic Kingdom (Florida) — 17.72 million
2. Disneyland Park (Anaheim) — 17.25 million
3. Universal Studios Japan (Osaka) — 16.00 million
4. Tokyo Disneyland (Chiba) — 15.10 million
5. Shanghai Disneyland (China) — 14.00 million
6. Chimelong Ocean Kingdom, Zhuhai (China) — 12.52 million
7. Tokyo DisneySea (Chiba) — 12.40 million
Its backer Cool Japan Fund already went bust, so unless the next ¥34 trillion round of Cool Japan funding comes through in time, it's dead
If Okinawa got a Pokémon and Mario area too, couldn't that keep it alive longer?
https://hayabusa9.5ch.io/test/read.cgi/mnewsplus/1787893998/
Saw this one first
It's less a denial and more "don't go reporting this without our official announcement" (even though it's true)
"This is my moment. I'm waiting for the call."
D·E·C·L·I·N·E·D
USJ should just swap out the signage already
Same with Disney — nobody's even seen the movies, but everyone still has a blast there
What's disappeared:
Spider-Man
Back to the Future
Terminator
E.T.
Backdraft
There's still American movie stuff left though
The Legend of Zelda
Yoshi's Island
Pokémon Park
Chiikawa World (the hit cute-character franchise)
I'd love to see what would happen if they built this in Shikoku
It's already under construction — foundation work's done and the framework keeps getting taller
The IR is still on track to open in 2030
F1 and Hollywood attractions will move into the Expo site
and the Expo site —
the Osaka Bay Area is going to become one of the biggest entertainment zones in Asia
Let's just build a race circuit too while we're at it
Kaiyukan Aquarium gets expanded and relocated, the IR hosts heavyweight boxing title fights and Cirque du Soleil shows, and the MICE facilities could even host things like G20 summits
A Pokémon Land would do too
There's already PokéPark (the past Pokémon theme-park events)
Bon Odori has the potential to become a global entertainment phenomenon bigger than samba or flamenco
Osaka-born culture and entertainment, going worldwide
Kawachi Ondo, seriously?
For a few years now, Kabukicho, Dogenzaka, and Ikebukuro have been holding these international Bon Odori events — everything from traditional tunes to rock and samba — with foreigners making up over half the crowd
Nakano's been doing it for over a decade too, and it's even Bon Jovi-approved
There are also big Bon Odori events rooted in local communities abroad, mostly among Japanese diaspora — in Latin America, Hawaii, and Singapore too
Tokyo Ondo is the one that really gets the crowd going lol
In that case Nagashima Spa Land works fine too
At this point it's basically an anything-goes mashup park that has nothing to do with "Universal Studios" anymore
Which really makes you appreciate how disciplined Disneyland and Sanrio Puroland are, sticking to a single theme
But in Osaka's case, wasn't it the not-sticking-to-one-theme approach that actually made it work?
Though privatization might have been the biggest factor
A chaotic mashup is Osaka's specialty
When it comes to messy variety, leave it to Osaka!
https://tadaup.jp/8WkPsDe3.jpg
Once the lease is signed, they'll first build a multi-story parking garage in the bottom-left,
then tear down the current parking garage. Combined with the right half of the cleared lot,
that'll create one big consolidated plot of land.
If it's a former factory site there'll be soil decontamination needed, so it won't be sellable right away
Background and Key Points
The candidate site for USJ’s expansion is the former Nippon Steel plant north of Konohana Ward, and the operating company is expected to lease both the land the company owns and the land the city of Osaka leases to it. Demolition of the plant has been underway since around April 2026, and the lease agreement itself is expected around spring 2028 — but all of this remains at the “sources say” stage, with no official announcement yet from the city of Osaka. One easily misread point from the thread is a separate report that “USJ denied the Nikkei story” — this wasn’t a denial of the expansion plan itself, but appears to be a response to the story breaking ahead of an official announcement. In Osaka, several major developments are proceeding in parallel, including the Yumeshima IR (slated to open in 2030) and the reuse of the Expo site, with USJ’s expansion positioned as part of that broader trend. The Nintendo- and Pokémon-themed area ideas raised in the thread are purely user wishlist items — no specifics about the new attractions have been made public at this point.
*This article is excerpted and summarized from the 5ch (Newsflash+) thread “[Osaka] USJ in Final Talks for Major Expansion… Aims to Open New Attractions.”
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