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Asahi Shimbun
11-07-2025
- Entertainment
- Asahi Shimbun
Theme park boom knows ‘no limit' amid surging demand
A preview event is held on July 10 for the expanded Minion Park at Universal Studios Japan in Osaka. (Sakiko Kondo) Japan's theme park industry is experiencing a wave of expansion and innovation, fueled by surging demand from domestic and international visitors. Leading the charge is Universal Studios Japan, which continues to upgrade its attractions under its 'No Limit!' branding campaign. USJ unveiled an expanded Minion Park on July 11, increasing its size by 1.4 times. The main attraction is a new shooting game, where guests ride a moving walkway and shoot at targets along the way. With no height restrictions, the ride aims to be accessible to a broad range of visitors. On July 18, USJ will also reopen its revamped Snoopy Studio. The upgraded area will include a new indoor roller coaster featuring Snoopy's iconic doghouse, designed for family-friendly thrills in time for Japan's busy summer travel season. USJ isn't the only theme park investing in major upgrades. Oriental Land Co. is pushing forward with large-scale redevelopment plans for Tokyo Disneyland's Tomorrowland. The company is making a significant investment in two major projects in the area: a new attraction set to open as early as fiscal 2026 at a cost of 29.5 billion yen ($200 million); and a complete redesign of Space Mountain and its surrounding area, scheduled for completion in 2027 at a cost of 70.5 billion yen. The expansion follows two consecutive years of record revenues for the company. The flurry of activity comes as Japan's theme park sector enjoys a strong rebound from the COVID-19 pandemic. According to the economy ministry, the industry generated 892.6 billion yen in sales in 2024—1.5 times higher than a decade ago. Attendance is also on the rise. USJ welcomed 16 million visitors in 2023, ranking it third globally among theme parks, according to a U.S.-based industry association. Meanwhile, new players are entering the market. Junglia Okinawa, a nature-themed park in northern Okinawa Prefecture, is set to open on July 25. The park is expected to tap into the growing number of tourists visiting Japan.
Asahi Shimbun
06-05-2025
- Asahi Shimbun
Prostitutes move from Osaka alley after it was painted yellow
An alley in Osaka's Kita Ward is decorated with illustrated stickers after it was painted yellow on Dec. 10. (Sakiko Kondo) OSAKA—A simple change in scenery has led to a dramatic decrease in prostitutes soliciting customers in a narrow alley running through the Taiyujicho district of Osaka's Kita Ward. Masafumi Fujino, 79, head of a local crime prevention association branch, said he has seen 10 or more prostitutes in the alley about a 10-minute walk from JR Osaka Station. However, after the alley was painted yellow in December last year, the number of streetwalkers decreased by 90 percent, local authorities said. The color scheme is based on the 'nudge theory,' in which subtle environmental changes can coax people to willingly modify their behavior. In the Osaka case, the switch to yellow made the women feel uncomfortable standing on a conspicuous surface. Police are also pushing longer-term solutions, such as helping the women leave the business for good. SURGE AFTER PANDEMIC The alley is lined with hotels and restaurants, and passers-by can enter the hotels without attracting attention thanks to poor visibility. The number of prostitutes there sharply increased after the COVID-19 pandemic. Some residents grew so weary of the change in their neighborhood that they moved out of the area, Fujino said. Since summer 2023, officers at the Sonezaki Police Station have sent papers to prosecutors on more than 30 women suspected of violating the Anti-Prostitution Law in the area. Despite the arrests, the women kept returning to the alley to solicit customers. 'There was a limit when all we could do was to conduct crackdowns,' Ryu Kitagawa, then chief of the community safety division at the police station, recalled. 'It was like playing a cat-and-mouse game.' The National Research Institute of Police Science suggested that the police station employ the nudge theory. Police officers and local residents painted a 100-meter stretch of the alley in yellow in December. Illustrated stickers designed by students at a local vocational school also decorate the alley. Osaka prefectural police have surveyed the alley four times a day. The results showed an average of 7.43 women solicited customers in the week before the alley was painted yellow. The maximum number was 17. One week after the paint job, the figure dropped to zero. In one week two months later, the average was 0.86, with a maximum of four, representing a 90-percent decrease. NO FUNDAMENTAL SOLUTION Local residents welcome the visual revamp, saying the alley has become easier to walk through. But authorities realize this is not a fundamental solution to prostitution. According to prefectural police, women are pushed into street prostitution after becoming debt-ridden. A survey conducted by the Sonezaki Police Station covering 28 women suspected of prostitution showed their average age was 24.4 years old, and more than 60 percent of them were saddled with debts to host clubs. One of them said she was struggling to make ends meet, and that streetwalking was more lucrative than working at a sex parlor. 'An approach that focuses on making women move away from areas where they solicit customers is something of a stopgap measure,' Takeshi Haraguchi, a professor of social geography at Kobe University graduate school, said about the painted alley. 'We need to think about why women have to stand there.' He said homeless people and other socially vulnerable groups have been removed from urban areas where international conferences, the Olympics and other large-scale events have been held. 'I think the same goes for the latest countermeasure against customer solicitation implemented ahead of the Osaka Kansai Expo,' he added. In spring 2024, the Sonezaki Police Station started making efforts to help street prostitutes leave the trade. After the investigation is concluded, police will escort women to a support organization run by a municipal government if they want such help. They have connected at least one woman to the right service, according to the station. 'We want to introduce more active countermeasures, which are not limited to crackdowns but also include establishing a system where women can receive necessary support,' an officer said.
