31 Months in Japan: The Building of a Theme Park

by Larry K. Collins, Lorna Collins

31 Months in Japan: The Building of a Theme Park is the story of two Southern Californians embarking on the adventure of a lifetime - moving to Japan to participate in the construction of the Universal Studios Japan® theme park. Join authors Larry K. & Lorna Collins on an odyssey into a foreign culture where they are often misunderstood and frequently confused. Discover the challenges and frustrations of building a world-class entertainment venue outside the United States. Enjoy the adventure as they discover the beauty and the people of Japan. Share their laughter, tears, surprise and final triumph as the park is completed ahead of schedule and under budget. Meet fascinating characters like Jurassic Jack, the Nihon Cowboy and Dote-san through their eyes. 31 Months in Japan: The Building of a Theme Park combines interesting details and behind-the-scenes descriptions of how magic is made in the entertainment industry with funny and touching personal remembrances. The stories will be of particular interest to those visiting or intending to live or work in Japan, people doing business with the Japanese, theme park aficionados and anyone with a sense of adventure. A husband-and-wife team highlight the challenges facing Americans who live and work in Japan. In 1998, Larry Collins accepted a position as project engineer for the Universal Studios Japan theme park in Osaka; Lorna would work in the Document Control department. When the workplace difficulties intersect with the couple's cultural adjustment, the narrative is engaging and humorous. For example, the Jaws exhibit required buildings that appear old and dilapidated, but the Japanese workers, with aesthetic inclinations that emphasize symmetry, kept making the structures too straight. Similarly, a fellow American spent long hours trying to create the requisite jungle appearance for the Jurassic Park exhibit, tending many large, shaggy trees, only to have them manicured by local workers...pleasantly informal, mildly engaging and useful for travelers to Japan. Kirkus Discoveries

Genres: Japan, Nonfiction, Travel

234 pages, Paperback

First published April 13, 2005

About the author

Larry Collins and his wife, Lorna, co-wrote their first book, 31 Months in Japan: The Building of a Theme Park, a memoir of building Universal Studios, Japan. They have since written two mysteries:Murder…They Wrote and Murder in Paradise, and are currently working on more in this series.
They wrote The Memory Keeper, a historical novel set in San Juan Capistrano between 1820 and 1890, and are working on a sequel.
Larry’s book of short stories, Lakeview Park, was published in 2011.
He has completed seven books in his McGregor Chronicles sci-fi fantasy series.
He lives in Dana Point, California, visits Hawaii whenever he can, and surfs every weekday.

Reviews

[Gretchen]

Very cute and very informative - would occasionally get bogged down by what felt like inside jokes but overall informative about Japan, the ex-pat life and theme park design.

[Michael Scott]

After The Pixar Touch: The Making of a Company, I decided to read a trilogy about theme park design, and stopped at 31 Months in Japan: The Building of a Theme Park, Theme Park Design: Behind The Scenes With An Engineer, and Project Future: The Inside Story Behind the Creation of Disney World. Theme parks are large-scale parks on a given grand topic, such as the entire world of Disney characters in Disneyland or everything aquatic in Waterworld; such a park can easily attract ten million visitors yearly, thus becoming big local industry.

31 Months in Japan features the memoir of Larry and Lorna Collins about their three-years adventure building the Universal Studios theme park in Japan. The reader gets to learn quickly about the world of theme parks, from people involved to the process, and definitely to the jargon (taken from theater via movies: customers are "guests"; areas visible to the public are "on stage"; employees are "cast members"; etc.) The technical parts about the theme park are rather shallow in comparison with Theme Park Design: Behind The Scenes With An Engineer, but some of the gory details, such as the chain letter that turns out to be a prank, are interesting.

The other theme of 31 Months is relocation or, if you will, working abroad. Lorna, the motherly figure, goes with us through the journey of building a home abroad, while Larry, the engineer, teaches us doing (technical) business with the Japanese. As an expat myself, I found myself drawn into the description of minutiae, not all of which are about Japan. We get lost in translation, but that could happen anywhere just the same. We sigh when we hear about paperwork, but ... From the Japanese things, we learn about the "inconvenient by design" tech (the seven different types of faucets in the rented apartment, for example), the ill treatment of foreign workers, etc. Unfortunately, we also see the world from the idiosyncratic eyes of the middle class American (Californian?).

The writing is not top, but there are many readable parts in a reasonably clean presentation. A little structure would have helped, but the interleaved (albeit not always) structure is not that bad.

Overall, an interesting read for an expat interested in the decor of the entertainment business.

[Karen]

I chose this book because it was supposedly about Japan. I'm not saying it's bad (for other people) but I was only interested in about 20% of it.

[Teresa Sharp]

This story had many similarities to our new life in Japan. It's not an exciting compelling story line but for Ex-pats who have lived in Japan or friends/relatives of ex-pats it's very interesting.

It's also good for people who enjoy theme parks, for there is a bit of background information on the making of Universal Studios.

[Lorna Collins]

This is the book we wrote about our experience living in Japan building the Universal Studios Theme Park in Osaka. It's 5-star rated on Amazon, so we must have done something right!