OSAKA -- Universal Studios Japan, the U.S. movie theme park scheduled to open on March 31 in Osaka, is attracting interest from Internet users who are buying admission tickets for more than five times the retail price in online auctions.
Tickets for a 12-day studio preview program between March 17 and 29 -- distributed to clients and corporations which helped sponsor the establishment of the park -- are proving especially popular.
One auction site tried to entice prospective bidders to "visit (USJ) before others" and use "these invitations to leisurely" enjoy the theme park.
Individual tickets, known as "studio passes," that allow visitors one-day admission and access to the full array of rides will go on sale for 5,500 yen, but invitations for holidays and Sundays during the preview session are selling for between 50,000 yen and 60,000 yen on the Net.
General admission tickets for the summer vacation and during Golden Week being sold in advance have almost sold out already.
Tickets can still be purchased at ticket windows on the day, but chaos is expected to reign immediately after the opening and there is no sign that the popularity of the tickets available through online auctions will abate before then.
Theme park officials, while expressing pleasure that the tickets are proving so popular, said they have some misgivings over people using them to make a profit.