is a theme park located in Osaka, Japan. Opened on March 31, 2001, it is one of six Universal Studios theme parks worldwide and was the first to open outside the United States. The park is owned and operated by a wholly owned subsidiary of NBCUniversal. The park is similar in layout to Universal Studios Florida and contains selected attractions from both Universal Orlando Resort and Universal Studios Hollywood, in addition to a small number of unique attractions. Over 11 million guests visited the park in its opening year, making it the fastest theme park to reach the 10 million guest milestone at the time. As of 2019, USJ is the fifth-most visited theme park in the world and the third-most visited in Japan behind Tokyo Disneyland and Tokyo DisneySea. History In December 1992, Osaka Universal Planning Inc. was established in Minato-ku, Osaka to plan and research for the development and construction of a large-scale theme park in Japan. In February 1996, the master agreement regarding planning, construction and operation of the Universal Studios Japan theme park was concluded with American corporation MCA Inc. Osaka Universal Planning Inc. was also renamed USJ Co., Ltd. Licensing agreements regarding the planning, construction and operation of Universal Studios Japan was concluded with the Universal Group in 1998 and later that year, construction of the theme park officially began. The park opened on March 31, 2001. Lands and attractions The park covers . The attractions are spread across eleven different areas. The tenth area, The Wizarding World of Harry Potter, opened on 15 July 2014 with its flagship attraction, Harry Potter and the Forbidden Journey. The area and its attactions were modeled after its previous iterations at Universal Orlando and Universal Studios Hollywood. Its eleventh area, Super Nintendo World, opened after several delays on 18 March 2021. Hollywood Based on the neighborhood of Hollywood, Los Angeles. New York City Based on the city of New York City, New York. San Francisco Based on the city of San Francisco, California. Minion Park An area inspired by the Despicable Me franchise. It opened in March 2017. Jurassic Park Inspired by Steven Spielberg's blockbuster film franchise of the same name. Amity Village Inspired by Steven Spielberg's Jaws film. Universal Wonderland Universal Wonderland is a section aimed at children and families. Opened in March 2012, it contains three themed sub-zones including Snoopy Studios, Hello Kitty's Fashion Avenue, and