Carlos Morales
A new theme park is coming to Japan in 2022 and it’s all about Studio Ghibli
If Totoro, Kiki, and Princess Mononoke are the names to friends you’ve been dying to make, then you are in luck because the house that Hayao Miyazaki built is opening a new theme park. First rumored in 2017 the amusement park is slated to open in 2022 and will be located in Nakagute City, Aichi Japan where it will occupy 494 acres (200 hectares) of land. Ghibli is partnering with Aichi Prefecture government and the Chunichi Shimbun newspaper company to bring the park to life.
Announced first at a press conference in Tokyo on Friday, Producer Toshio Suzuki, Aichi governor Hideaki Omura and Chunichi CEO Uichiro Oshima released details about the project that include confirmation that an area will be based partly on Youth Hill from the 2004’s Howl’s Moving Castle, Dondoko Forest, based on My Neighbor Totoro; and a Great Ghibli Warehouse for the park opening. Other areas like Mononoke Village, based on Princess Mononoke, and a Valley of the Witch area, themed on both Kiki’s Delivery Service and Howl’s Moving Castle, are set to open a year later.
The park will be built within the Expo Aichi Commemorative Park where it will adhere to director Hayao Miyazaki strong environmental opinions to crafted the park in harmony with the existing nature and keep from cutting down a single tree. Goro Miyazaki will be working directly on the project which will have no roller coasters or other ride-type attractions and have five themed areas to discover. Overall the studio will be in charge of all the creative aspect of the project.
“He [Hayao Miyazaki] is the kind of extremely interfering old geezer who just can’t leave people alone to get on with their work,” joked Suzuki at the press conference. “He can’t help worrying about Ghibli Park.”
Suzuki went on to speak about other Studio Ghibli projects like Miyazaki first computer animated short film and said “Not only films, we’d like to try a stage play and other things; we’ll make an announcement soon.”