If you have watched any Studio Ghibli movie, you will know the certain kind of whimsy and magic that comes from the enigmatic Japanese animation studio. With a style and magical talent like no other, the Japanese animation studio is known around the world for creating masterpieces like Spirited Away, and Howl’s Moving Castle. I can’t imagine there is a person alive who wouldn’t want to be transported into the magic of the worlds that the animation studio creates, and soon that will be 100% possible, with Ghibli Park.
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Exhibition at Nagano Prefectural Art Museum
An art exhibition has opened in Nagano Prefecture to showcase the tantalizing attractions that will be at Ghibli Park once it opens. This gives visitors an early look at what they can expect to enjoy in the future and an exhibition of art and sculptures that have only ever been seen in illustrations and the animations themselves.
The exhibition will be running at Nagano until October the 10th, whereafter it will be moving to the Aichi Prefectural Museum of Art from October the 29th. This seems fitting as that prefecture will also house the park itself.
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Attractions at the Exhibit
At the exhibit, visitors can take photos with a life-sized Totoro, take pictures with No-Face on the iconic train ride from Spirited Away, step into the life-sized office of Yubaba in her magical bathhouse, see sculptures and models of characters from the likes of Laputa: Castle in the Sky and Whisper of the Heart, all while learning about the production process for Ghibli Park. This is a taste of the exhibits that will be available at Ghibli Park once it opens.
Ghibli Park
Ghibli Park will be opening on the 1st of November 2022 in Nakakute in the Aichi Prefecture. The park will be made up of three main areas, Ghibli’s Grand Warehouse, The Hill of Youth, and Dondoko Forest. All three of these areas sound magical, but very little detail has been shared about what each area will contain, aside from the exhibitions being mostly housed in the Grand Warehouse, much like the exhibitions seen at the Art Museum Promotion.
Miyazaki Gorō was part of the team designing the park and said, “Naturally we want people who have seen Ghibli films to come to Ghibli Park. But we also created it feeling we’d be happy if it encouraged visitors to watch particular films.”
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Short Original Studio Ghibli Trailer for Ticket Sales
Studio Ghibli Director Miyazaki Hayao created an incredibly cute original animation to announce the start of the ticket sales for the Park, featuring many of the most loved characters from the movies like the Cat Bus, Totoro, No-Face, and many more recognizable characters.
Tickets were not available for direct purchase for the November opening but were sold via an online lottery system starting on the 10th of August. Online applications were taken in until august 22nd when prospective winners could indicate their preferred dates and times for the opening. Reservations could be made once per person for each area of the park, for a maximum of six people. The results of the lottery were announced on the 2nd of September for the lucky winners who will be the first to visit Ghibli Park.
I don’t know about you, but I’m going to go and watch more of these magical Studio Ghibli films (many of which are available on Netflix, by the way) while I save up to hopefully one day visit the magical realm of Ghibli Park.