OSAKA -- The Universal Studios Japan theme park, which drew 11 million people in the first 12 months after it opened in March 2001, is having a bad second year as it struggles to regain public trust following a series of management blunders.
Since early July, park officials have issued the following admissions: that 21 restaurants had used outdated food products; that a drinking fountain had been dispensing untreated industrial water; that there were high levels of dangerous bacteria in the man-made lake of the Jurassic Park attraction; and that four other attractions had used a larger amount of explosives than permitted.
"People are really wondering if the park is safe, and we haven't done a very good job convincing them that it is," admitted one official of USJ Co., the park's operator, on condition of anonymity.