Naruto theme park, exists, and we visited it!

I have to say it from now on, although it is surely easy to guess: we love the Naruto series. Vicente was a fan since it started, and I discovered it relatively recently, and I like it a lot. So, when we found out that there was a Naruto theme park in Japan, we said we MUST visit it.

Named “Naruto & Boruto Shinobi-zato”, this park opened its doors in April 2019, to delight all the fans of the series. Come with us to visit it!, we are going to enter Konoha.

But who is Naruto?

Before starting, I will tell you what the Naruto series is about, for those who do not know it: it is the story of an orphan boy, whom no one wants in the village where he lives (Konoha). He attends ninja school to become one, but he’s not very bright and everyone makes fun of him. Naruto swears that he will become the Hokage, who is basically the head of the village, to earn everyone’s respect. And then many adventures happen, in which Naruto’s will and value of friendship are tested.

The Boruto series appeared later and is about the adventures of Naruto’s son, many years later.

I hope I did not spoil you, I have been as brief as possible so as not to hurt anyone.

🤩 Buy everything you need to visit Naruto Park here: admission and transportation

Where is Naruto and Boruto’s park?

The “Naruto & Boruto Shinobi-zato” theme park is located within the huge 8,000 square meter area of Nijigen no Mori park, in which there are spaces dedicated to other anime characters. But seeing them all would take more than one day. We only came to see Naruto’s.

In turn, the huge park is located on Awaji Island located southwest of Osaka, in Hyogo prefecture.

By the way, if you see that your stay in Osaka is a bit short on time, and you don’t want to miss a visit to Naruto Park, which will take you the whole day, consider the option of booking a private tour of Osaka, which takes you through the main points of the city in one day, also with a guide in English. Or you can also join an Osaka night tour, to see the city with a different perspective.

Oh well, and while we were there, we took a picture of the Awaji Island manhole cover.

How to get there?

From Osaka, you can get there by bus, you have to go to the Minatomachi Bus station which is located at JR Namba station. For us, this was the most convenient exit, but you can also leave from Osaka JR station and Osaka Itami Airport.

The departures from the JR Namba station are: 8 AM, 9M and 10:10 AM. They take almost two hours to arrive (in the video I said just over an hour, my bad).

The price is 1250 yen one way ticket or 2250 round trip.

To check the schedules from Osaka and from Kobe, check this page, I also recommend that, at least one day before, ask for help at the hotel reception, just to confirm that the schedules remain the same for the bus that goes to the park. The bus is called “Kakehashi NARUTO Osaka Gō” from Osaka or “Kakehashi NARUTO Kobe Gō” from Kobe.

You can also get there on your own in a rented car. But the truth is that getting on a bus like this, being a fan of the series, is just wow. Although I have to say that the decoration inside was more like a normal bus (but the outside was spectacular).

If you are staying in Osaka, we recommend the Via Inn Abeno Tennoji hotel, which is very close to Tennoji station, is very clean and has the curious fact of sharing a building with a Don Quijote store, very useful for doing your purchases of Japanese products and souvenirs.

Information to visit the Naruto x Boruto Shinobi-zato theme park

Visiting hours: from 10 AM to 8 PM (updated 2023)

Fare: Entrance ticket costs 3300 yen. If you want to add the third mission, it costs 4800 yen in total.

🤩 Buy everything you need to visit Naruto Park here: admission and transportation

And we arrived at Naruto and Boruto’s theme park

When arriving to pay the entrance they give us two scrolls, which correspond to the two missions included in the entrance ticket, the missions are called:

• Ten no maki: mission that includes the characters of the Boruto series, in this you have to climb and move. It is advisable to bring comfortable clothes and shoes.
• Chi no maki: here we deal with the characters of Naruto Shippuden, this part is much less physical but here we exercise the mind as we have to solve puzzles.

In addition to these two missions, the girl at the entrance proposed us a third mission (paying a supplement), it was a puzzle mission and since we were there, and we thought we would spend the whole day in the park, we took it. She gave us some cards to do the riddles.

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From the outset, one of the things that impresses when you arrive is to see the replica of the Hokage Rock, a mountain that is characteristic in the series and of which Naruto always says that he will see his face there one day.

Ten no maki: Mission with Boruto, Sarada and friends

If I recall correctly, the missions can be done in any order they want, but since the Ten no maki mission was more “physical”, we decided to start with this one. Making it after eating the succulent ramen was perhaps not a good idea.

Update 2023: Today in this mission, we have to rescue Naruto, who is located at the top. They have added hand seals (mudras) like a true expert ninja, which you must perform to open the doors and move forward. Don’t worry, they will explain everything to you along the way, so you won’t get stuck.

So, you can see the difference, when we went, both Sasuke and Naruto were at the end of the tour to tell us mission accomplished. Nowadays, Sasuke is at the beginning of the tour and Naruto at the end. You can still take your good photos with both!

During the mission, you have to collect stamps on the scroll (on which you will see the names of the Boruto series) and at the end, they give us a symbolic prize. In our case, there were hardly any people that day, so we were lucky enough to do the tour twice. Usually, when there are many people, you have to wait in line.

Recommendation: Although it is possible to do physical activities, I recommend that you bring comfortable clothes and shoes.

As I said in the title of this section, this part includes the Boruto characters, and we will see them throughout the tour. A very fun start. I don’t remember exactly how long we lasted, it was probably an hour and a half. When we left there, we were already hungry.

Lunch break at Ichiraku ramen

And we could not speak the hidden village of Konoha without the Ichiraku ramen place being present, the one that Naruto loves so much because not only is the place represented, but it also serves the delicious ramen that we saw so many times in the series.

And when we made our order they gave us some printed figurines of Deidara and Kurama, how cute!

Chi no maki: Mission with the characters of Naruto Shippuden

The mission that had to be done after our ramen was the Chi no maki, which takes us to the universe of Naruto Shippuden, which takes place when Naruto is already a teenager. In the roll of this mission we have to collect answers to various riddles, in this case it is less physical effort and more intellectual.

🤩 Buy everything you need to visit Naruto Park here: admission and transportation

It’s not mega complicated either, don’t panic and symbols are used for just about everything, so the language barrier is mitigated. It is very, very funny, and we can see several statues that evoke the characters of the series. I have to say that my favorite part is seeing the Akatsuki characters, the statues are totally faithful to the cartoons, and they are life-size.

Extra mission: discover the intruding agent

I don’t want to tell you much about this mission to avoid spoilers, but basically, it is about finding an undercover agent and for that, you have to solve several puzzles. I highly recommend it, we had a lot of fun making it, and it was exciting to be able to solve everything.

Where to stay on Awaji Island?

If you decide to stay on the island to be able to stay until the park closes, you have several options. Some very expensive, but comfortable, others acceptable, but more economical:

• Hotel Grand Chariot: in this hotel you will be just steps away from the parks, it also has all the amenities and even has themed rooms (such as Naruto or Hello Kitty). But the price is usually quite high.
• The Gran Resort Elegante Awajishima: a bit more economical, but also a bit further away from the parks, is this resort-type hotel.

What other parks can be visited nearby?

If you have already decided to stay one more day on the island, take advantage of the time and take a walk through the other theme parks of Nijigen no Mori. These are some of the ones you can visit (each one has a separate cost):

• Godzilla Park: admission costs 3,800 yen. It has a huge zipline where you will literally enter the mouth of the huge reptile.
• Dragon Quest Island: entrance fee of 3,400 yen. This is a park dedicated to the popular role-playing game of the same name.
• Hello Kitty Smile: admission costs 1,500 yen per person. This park is a bit smaller than the previous ones, but ideal for fans of this popular kitten. To get to this park, transportation must be taken, which Nijigen no Mori provides to visitors in parking lot F, free of charge.

Is Naruto theme park worth it?

Let’s go by parts, it must be clear that this is not a Disney-style amusement park. The missions are quite consistent with the series and I think that to enjoy the place, you have to know in advance about, at least, the original Naruto series, if you have seen Boruto even better, but it is not essential.

By this, I mean that if you are a fan of the series, without thinking, I tell you that YOU DO HAVE TO COME, you are going to love it. If you are not a fan, or you do not know the series at all, I do not know, I think you will not find much joke about the references that are everywhere because in the end that is what we come to.

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