• A Studio Ghibli theme park will open in Nagakute city, Japan in 2022.
  • The theme park will take inspirations from various from by the famous Japanese animator and filmmaker Hayao Miyazaki.
  • It will be built on the grounds of Aichi Commemorative Park (Aichi Prefecture) and can be reached by travelling 3 hours by train from Tokyo.
  • Currently the park is planned to divided into five distinct areas that are inspired by the Hayao Miyazaki Films

If you’re either an an anime fan or you have some sort of appreciation for (Japanese) animation in general, then you’ve probably watched at least one film created by Hayao Miyazaki. Miyazaki had is known for being the co-founder of Studio Ghibli, a film and animation studio in Japan and has directed multiple award-winning films such as Laputa: Castle in the Sky (1986), My Neighbour Totoro (1988), Princess Mononoke (1997), Howl’s Moving Castle (2004) and probably the most well-known film out of the series in the Western World, Spirited Away (2001) which became the highest-grossing film in Japanese history.

Many of us who have visited Japan have travelled to the Ghibli Museum, based in Mitaka, Western Tokyo. Now, don’t get me wrong. I enjoyed the time i spent in there, enchanted by the showcases of all the films that were produced by the master animator. It was an experience that could be enjoyed by both adults and children alike.

To me, after watching every film it felt like an entire different world or universe was existed that was separate from then one we were living in but with underlying themes that we could actually relate to – environmentalism, pacifism, feminism, family and love. So I would be lying if i said that i didn’t expect a little more from something that became so successful. Having said that, what more could you really expect from a museum?

So this is where all you Otakus and Weeaboos come in screaming like kids. Because an actual Studio Ghibli theme park will open in Nagakute city, Japan in 2022. The park will take inspirations from various places from the animation films and will be built on the grounds of Aichi Commemorative Park (Aichi Prefecture) which can be reached by travelling 3 hours by train from Tokyo.

The park is 500-acre in size and was originally used as the site for the World’s Fair back in 2005. Currently the park is planned to divided into five distinct areas that are inspired by the Hayao Miyazaki Films:
1. Youth Hill (Howl’s Moving Castle)
2. Mononoke’s Village (Princess Mononoke)
3. Dondoko Forest (My Friend Totoro)
4. Valley of the Witch (Howl’s Moving Castle and Kiki’s Delivery Service)
5. Ghibli Large Warehouse

1. Youth Hill
This area will serve as the main entrance into the park and the gate will resemble the Gothic architecture style European buildings from ‘How’s Moving Castle.’

Chikyuya Farm house replace. Youth Hill.

2. Mononoke’s Village
Located in the Northern part of the park and surrounded by a green sombre forest, Mononoke’s Village Area will also contain sculptures of animal spirits and characters that were featured in the film (Spiders, Wolves, Red Elks, Boars etc.) which will planted all over the park. A model life-sized model replica of the Tataraba Irontown will be the main attraction in this area.

3. Dondoko Forest
This area is dedicated to the film ‘My Neighbor Totoro’ as the name ‘Dondoko‘ is the name of the song that Satuski and Mei sing in the film to make the small seeds sprout into a gigantic tree. There will also be a life-saved replica of the farmhouse the sisters had lived in.

4. Valley of the Witch
The Witches’ Valley area will contain buildings inspired by ‘How’s Moving Castle’ and Okino House (from Kiki’s Delivery Service). There will also be a replica of Howl’s moving castle here.

Here’s another illustration provided by Studio Ghibli of a building, which die-hard Studio Ghibli fans may recognise from the 1995 film ‘Whisper of the Heart’, which was set in the Tokyo neighbourhood of Seiseki-Sakuragaoka (Try saying THAT three times in a row really fast) in Western Tokyo.

5. Ghibli Warehouse
The Ghibli Large Warehouse will be transformed from a former swimming pool which close down in September 2018. It will feature exhibitions, film screenings from the animations and many more.

A restaurant district resembling the lan

According to LiveJapan, the Ghibli Park Promotion Division has made an estimate hoping that the park will bring in approximately 1 million visitors each year by the time the facilities are ready to be open and about 1.8 million by the time the park is fully completed by 2023.

So if you haven’t watched any of those animations yet, Netflix has purchased the rights to 21 of the iconic Studio Ghibli films at the start of 2020. So go ahead and take your pick.

I do wish that there was something similar to the infamous bath-house in Spirited Away or even the Sky city castle from Laputa and i’m optimistic they will plan to add more to the list in the future. So in the mean-time, here are some other illustrations of the theme park that i HOPE to expect.

Landmarks in this image, Laputa Castle, Howl’s Moving Castle, The Bathhouse owned by the witch Yubaba, Totor’s forrest.
Black Dragon ride from Tales from the Earthsea, Hotel Adriana in the port.

For those who have better attention to detail than myself, can you guys spot any more in the illustrations above? If so, please comment below.