Universal Studios Japan

[Aaron Gerow]

As anyone living in Japan knows, Universal Studios Japan has just opened 
in Osaka with an extreme amount of fanfare (you can check out it's site: 
http://www.usj.co.jp/).  Like Tokyo Disneyland, this is basically the 
Japanese version of a major US themepark, but just as Tokyo Disneyland 
has been both culturally influential and subject to cultural analysis, I 
was wondering what people think of USJ and its prospects.

Just a comment from me.  I've found the discourse around the park a bit 
too ironic--unintentionially, perhaps.  Just the name, "Universal Studios 
Japan," can easily prompt the postmodernist to rephrase it as "Universal 
Studios = Japan" such that Japan has become just a movie studio--and a 
Hollywood one at that. One of their catch phrases used in 
advertising--"The Power of Hollywood"--seems to ironically confirm that 
suspicion.  Especially when the French and other countries can be very 
wary of the power of Hollywood as an industry, USJ seems to unabashedly 
celebrate that power.  Previous commentators have pointed out the 
implications of Universal's logo itself: the name encompassing (taking 
over?) the globe.

What are we to make of this?

Aaron Gerow
Yokohama National University
KineJapan list owner
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