Harry Potter theme park expected to replace Toshimaen in 2023

What a bummer. Replacing it with a Harry Potter theme park - ugh.

Hmm. Is Harry Potter big in Japan? The USJ in Osaka has already got some Harry Pottwr attractions. Is there room on the market for more?

Great news! Why not just make the whole of Japan one giant theme park for the entertainment of rich Chinese tourists?

The USJ in Osaka has already got some Harry Pottwr attractions. Is there room on the market for more?

One in Osaka. One in Tokyo, so yes.

Why not just make the whole of Japan one giant theme park for the entertainment of rich Chinese tourists?

Nah, they are spending their money on Made in Japan Masks.

I took my kids many times to Toshimaen and I have fond memories of the place, but it is obviously getting old. I don't know if Harry Potter attractions will be big in Japan, but some magic kind of fairy land would probably be successful. Just curious, will they keep the "No tattoos" big signs at the entrance?

Yep - Harry Potter is big in Japan, More than enough room in the market for this in Eastern Japan. I very much doubt that Warner Bros would even entertain the idea if there wasn't money to be made.

agree with speed. it's a pretty decent amusement park with rides and also a water park with slides. replacing it with just HP stuff seems so wrong. i wonder if the child drowning last year has anything to do with this.

Yes! I'm looking forward to waiting in a line for 3 hours to enjoy a ride that lasts for 5 minutes.

They should build Mario World there instead and just extend the existing Harry Potter section in USJ.

Aww, that's a shame. My daughter really loves Toshimaen. We always go in the winter for the quaint lights and retro feel. It's the only theme park type destination in Japan that isn't constantly packed to the brim with tourists. I suppose that's gone. Yomiuriland we go!

Boring! Agreed PerformingMonkey. MarioWorld pls. So much more potential. Harry Potter finished some years ago so I guess Toshimaen will retain it's retro feel.

The Tokyo metropolitan government plans to buy most of the 22-hectare site to use as an evacuation shelter during a major earthquake. The new theme park will occupy only part of the site.

Given the size of Toshimaen, I was wondering about how a Harry Potter theme park could possibly fill all that space.

However, then I read the above. Now I'm really curious about what the Tokyo government is going to do with the bulk of the site that is going to be an "evacuation shelter".

I really really really hope it is going to be a huge green zone open to the public!

They should replace it with a theme park that is more Japanese... monkeys or ninjas... something like that.

Harry Potter seems old hat now (old wizard hat)... past its sell-by date.

I remember first visiting Toshimaen in the early 1990s with my girlfriend of that time. It was a spring day, cherry blossoms in full bloom, but raining in the morning. The rain stopped around lunchtime and the sun came out... so us and a few others had an almost empty theme park for the whole afternoon. The cherry blossom looked beautiful all over the park... a really great memory of a Japan that seems to be slipping away.

Seems like something more Japanese like Nintendo Land, also opening at USJ, would be more profitable especially for foreign tourists. I am curious how the Moomin theme park is doing now.

@Rizdown

They should replace it with a theme park that is more Japanese... monkeys or ninjas...

maybe settle down there, bud.

It's an interesting complaint - to say that Harry Potter is passe. There will always be children, and children will always want to read books. It's just like saying Alice, Mickey Mouse, Totoro, and indeed the Moomin Family are unfashionable, because they were created long ago. Quality lasts a much longer time than your childhood did.

Anybody who thinks the Harry Potter franchise was over a few years ago should read up how it did financially in 2019. Impressive.

Competition is necessary. Can't have Disneyland have all the kids.