Studio Ghibli announces plans to open Totoro theme park in Japan

Studio Ghibli, the legendary Japanese animation house, is bringing one of its greatest movie worlds to life. A theme park based on the studio’s works, starting with the 1988 film ‘My Neighbor Totoro’, will be built in the city of Nagoya and open for business in 2020.

‘My Neighbor Totoro’ tells the story of two sisters, Satsuki and Mei, who move into a new house in the country to be closer to their hospitalised mother. Over the course of the movie they encounter a number of magical creatures in the nearby forest, which they call ‘totoros’.

The film is a beloved children’s classic in Japan where the character of Totoro is as familiar to children as Winnie-the-Pooh is to British children. The film, alongside many others from Studio Ghibli, is distributed outside Japan by the Walt Disney Company.

News of the park is likely to excite fans of Japanese animation, many of whom consider ‘My Neighbour Totoro’ to bethe best movie made by the respected animation studio.

The park will be on 200-hectare site in Japan’s Aichi Prefecture symbolising the movies theme of ‘respecting and embracing nature’.

The site already features the new home lead characters Satsuki and Mei move into at the start of the film.’ The rest of the ‘Totoro’ universe will eventually be featured in the park. The site of the project was previously used for the 2005 World Expo.

The plans for the Totoro theme park were revealed by Aichi Prefecture Governor Hideaki Omura at a news conference. Studio Ghibli Producer and Co-founder Toshio Suzuki was also present at the announcement.

A still from 'Kiki's Delivery Service'. Credit: Walt Disney Company

The governor said in the conference that Ghibli’s respect and love towards living creatures and the Earth would be reflected in the amusement park.

“I would like to share this idea to future generations,” he added.

The construction of the park will be planned carefully so that no trees have to be cut down.

Once opened, the park will expand to encompass other movies from the studio. The 2001 Academy Award-winning film ‘Spirited Away’, which takes place in an abandoned amusement park, is a likely inclusion.

The possibility of a theme park dedicated to Totoro, and the characters and places of other beloved movies such as ‘Kiki’s Delivery Service’, ‘Princess Mononoke’, ‘Howl’s Moving Castle’, ‘Castle in the Sky’ and ‘Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind’ is likely to excite animation fans in Japan and across the world.

Perhaps the park’s next attraction could be based on the 2001 Academy Award-winning ‘Spirited Away’, most of which is set in an abandoned theme park.