Technically we experienced our first earthquake in Japan. But we were out and about when it happened and hardly felt it. I only realized when my airbnb landlord messaged me to check if I was doing okay!
But moving on, here's a good story! When my boyfriend and I were planning this trip, we figured we would be all shrined out and would need a break to do something different. We decided on a day trip to Osaka from Kyoto to visit the Universal Studios Japan. As you can imagine, getting tickets on the day of, was going to be a shit show and so we wanted to get tickets in advance. However just to make our life a little more interesting, the website for purchasing advanced tickets was entirely in Japanese (google translate does not work on it). Having no qualms whatsoever (being shameless and all), I crowdsourced my friends on facebook with the task of finding me a Japanese person who can help. As luck would have it, one of my coworkers did a study abroad year in Japan and had friends in Kyoto who could help. After a 30min Skype session with her friend in Kyoto which involved sharing screens and her instructing me to click various button in kanji, we had two tickets to USJ along with a express pass to skip the long lines. I highly recommend the express pass btw, especially for the Harry Potter exhibit. It took us 10 mins in a line that would have been 90 mins otherwise! But more on that later.
Universal Studios was super American and awesome at the same time. The entire place was decked up for Christmas which always makes me happy. The sprawling grounds covers many attractions including Hollywood dream, space fantasy, Sesame Street, Shrek, Spider-Man, Back to the Future, Jaws, Jurassic Park, Snoopy world, Terminator, San Francisco, Beverly Hills, Coney Island and of course Harry Potter Wizarding world. As soon as we got there we hopped on the Hollywood backdrop super roller coaster(the craziest one in the park) with a 5 min wait thanks to the express pass. It was crazy! I was screaming the entire time lol. I was just glad to have kept my food down for the ride. We made our way through the space fantasy ride, which was super cool.. You really had to be there. The terminator 3D was so-so; I would skip it if pressed for time. Spider-Man 4D was well executed giving you the experience of hanging precariously off a building. Jaws was a fairly disappointing water ride with fake sharks popping up over the water lol.
The star attraction was clearly Harry Potter world! The sets from the books and movies were recreated to perfection. This was exactly what I was expecting and I was hooked. On one end was the Hogwarts castle overlooking the water. On the other was Hogsmeade with all the stores we've read about. Ollivander's was beautifully recreated. The actor (British I presume) enacted the scene from sorcerers stone (both in Japanese and English) with an unsuspecting boy in the crowd. I know I'm old for this but I could not stop grinning! Honeyduke's had every type of candy: chocolate frogs, every flavored jelly beans! There were stalls along the way selling butterbeer (it's non alcoholic, sweet, buttery and hot). Considering it was pouring hippogriphs outside, I was surprised by the number of people willing to brave the rain. Devils and Bangles carried all sorts of souvenirs, house pins, scarfs, ties, cloaks, trinkets, charms, wands, brooms, owls you name it. And then there was the recreation of the Hogwarts express, Weasley's Magic car, Zonkos, mandrakes..Honestly I didn't want to leave. I was transported to the world I dreamed of. Sigh!
After waiting our turn with the timed ticket for the Harry Potter ride, we entered the Hogwarts castle. The pictures on the walls were moving. Dumbledore's study was recreated accurately. The ride was a 4D journey through the Harry Potter books and oh my, it was brilliant! We participated in Quidditch, were attacked by death eaters, spiders, whomping willow, dragons, ..it was exhilarating!
My boyfriend had to literally drag me out of the park. I highly recommend adding this to your itinerary.
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