A new theme park that will take advantage of the outstanding forests of northern Okinawa Prefecture will open in 2025, an Osaka-based company said Monday.
The new theme park, called Junglia, will be built on a former golf course site that stretches from the village of Nakijin to the city of Nago, marketing and entertainment company Katana said.
“When people think of theme parks, they probably come up with great parks such as Tokyo Disneyland, USJ (Universal Studios Japan) and Huis Ten Bosch. But if (the new theme park) provides similar experiences as them, there would be no reason for visitors to go there when they come all the way to Okinawa,” Katana CEO Tsuyoshi Morioka said during a news conference in Tokyo.
“We must provide something that people cannot experience in urban areas. ... We’d like to create (a theme park) that maximizes the excitement that people will get from the overwhelming nature.”
The northern part of Okinawa Prefecture's main island is famous for the Yambaru subtropical forest region, which was recognized as a UNESCO Natural World Heritage site in 2021. The 60-hectare Junglia park will aim to help visitors enjoy the nature of the greater Yambaru forest area.
For instance, the park plans to offer balloon rides and an attraction in which visitors will be chased by dinosaurs through the jungle while they ride in a vehicle.
Morioka, a former executive of the operator of USJ who is known for his contribution to the turnaround of the Osaka-based park, said he came up with the idea of a nature-focused theme park in Okinawa Prefecture in around 2010, saying that Japan has many rich nature sites whose potential has not been effectively taken advantage of yet.
He said the ¥70 billion ($469.7 million) Junglia project is not just about building a theme park, as Katana aims to produce various ripple effects to energize tourism in northern Okinawa. The economic gap between that region and the southern area of the main island, which includes the prefecture’s capital Naha, is often brought up as a problem.
“By proving that this scale of investment can be successful in this location, we hope that this project will be an impetus for more investment in Okinawa,” Morioka said.
Nago-based Japan Entertainment, a Katana group firm, is partnering with local municipalities and Meio University in the city of Nago with the aim of nurturing workers for the tourism industry.
Despite the smartphone-induced growth of digital entertainment that can be enjoyed at home, Morioka has said that demand for live entertainment remains strong, and that is one reason why his firm has been stepping up work on its theme park-related business.
In the spring, the firm is looking to open a theme park focused on immersive experiences in Tokyo’s Odaiba area. The new facility, to be called Immersive Fort Tokyo, will feature 12 immersive attractions along with six shops and restaurants at a 30,000-square-meter site formerly occupied by the outlet shopping mall Venus Fort.
Katana was involved with the renewal of Seibuen Amusement Park in Saitama Prefecture, which reopened in 2021, and it has also been helping with the rebranding and management of Huis Ten Bosch in Nagasaki Prefecture.
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