USJ - Ten Years Later!

The ten-year USJ reunion was held as planned, despite the devastating earthquake and tsunami in northern Japan just two weeks earlier. After checking with our folks in Osaka, we decided to go ahead, and we're all very happy we made that decision.

We've posted videos on YouTube from our trip and the reunion:
     We arrived a couple of days early, on March 27. Amazingly, many things looked exactly the same.
     The next morning, we got up early and went to the park entrance to watch the guests arrive. Seeing the expressions on the kids' faces fulfilled our every wish for this park. Afterward, we took a  sentimental journey to Kyoto.
     The day finally arrived (March 31, 2011), and we were so excited about seeing the park again.
     During the reunion party, we watched several videos, including this walk down memory lane created by Tomoko Ohara. And photos taken during the building of the park.
     We took several copies of our book, 31 Months in Japan: The Building of a Theme Park. All proceeds from the sale of those books went to the earthquake relief fund in addition to many generous donations from those who attended. We also showed the video of the book.
     After dinner, we had reserved seating along Hollywood Boulevard for the Magical Starlight Parade.
     The next evening, some of us met for dinner again and continued the celebration. The following day, we ate lunch with our Japanese daughter Yuka Komatsu, who acted as escort for some of the families relocating to Osaka in 1998-1999.

If you have an additional photos or videos you'd like to share, please email them to us or post them yourselves and email the link. We'll add them to the list on this site. T

Thanks to Douglas Gordon, Randy Barnett, Matt Jones, Tomoko Ohara, Yutaka Izutsu and everyone else who worked behind the scenes to make this event happen.

Lorna & Larry Collins

Send Us Your Updates

After a computer meltdown earlier this year, we're back in business on the website again and we'd like to hear from you. Please send your updated information and any other correspondence to usjalumni@cox.net. Also, if anyone else is interested in sharing the web updates with us, please let us know. We have enjoyed keeping the group in touch over the last ten years, and the hosting is paid through December of 2013 and we currently have no intention of not keeping the site beyond then. However, it would be nice for someone else to be able to contribute as well.
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 Last updated: 09/09/2011

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