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 from there 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.
Where is Naruto and Boruto’s park?
The “Naruto & Boruto Shinobi-zato” 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.
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 outside was awsome).
Informations to visit the Naruto x Boruto Shinobi-zato park
Visiting hours: from 10 AM to 10 PM.
Fare: Entrance ticket costs 3300 yen. If you want to add the third mission it costs 4800 yen in total.
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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.
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.
Mission with Boruto, Sarada and friends
If I remember 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.
I’m not going to go into much detail about the missions so wont spoil it, here we have two paths, the Uchiha path and the Uzumaki path. One is more, so to speak, intellectual and the other is more of physical prowess. To those who know the series I let you guess who the intellectual corresponds to 😀
During the mission we have to collect stamps on the roll and at the end they give us a symbolic prize 🙂 and as there was hardly anyone that day, a total luck, we were able to do both routes. Normally when there are many people you have to stand in line and choose whether to do the Uchiha or the Uzumaki path.
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 talk about 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!
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.
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 😀
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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