Everyone loves theme parks based on their favorite movies – take Disney Land as an example. Studio Ghibli decided to launch its own theme park based on its film universes in Aichi Prefecture of Japan. The theme park has 5 theme lands selected for now, along with a dining area.
These 5 areas include Ghibli’s Giant Warehouse, Dondoko Forrest inspired from My Neighbor Totoro, Princess Monoke’s Village, Hill of Youth inspired from Howl’s Moving Castle and Castle in the Sky, and lastly Witch Valley based on Kiki’s Delivery Service. The dining area is supposedly based on Spirited Away.
The construction of three of these areas of the planned park are under the temporary contract of construction contractor Kajima Corporation. The contract is worth 10,657,900,000 Yen (about 98,323,700 USD).
These three areas of the park are slated to open in the Fall season of 2022. The developing team also added that they don’t anticipate any delays because of the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic. The news was streamed by Nagoya TV along with some concept designs and an aerial video of the sites of construction.
“The Great Ghibli Exhibit -– Two more years until Ghibli’s Park Opening,” which is an exhibit of display items destined to be showcased in the park, is a preview of some of the content of the park before the items are moved inside the Giant Warehouse for display.
The exhibit supposed to take place in the Aichi Prefectural Museum of Art has been postponed because of the spread of the pandemic. The exhibit was going to display all of the items which were displayed in previous Ghibli Exhibits.
The Ghibli’s Giant Warehouse (Ghibli no Daisōko), Dondoko Forrest (Dondoko Mori) and Hill of Youth (Seishun no Oka) theme lands are the ones which are slated to open in 2022, with Princess Monoke’s Village (Mononoke no Sato) and Witch Valley (Majo no Tani Area) theme lands to open in 2023. The Dondoko Forrest is going to feature a recreation of the shrine and path from My Neighbour Totoro.
Aichi Prefecture is collaborating with Studio Ghibli to open the park in a 200-hectre area in Aichi’s Expo Park, otherwise known as Moricoro Park in Nagakute.
The expo park was also the site of the 2005 World fair. The park already contains “Satsuki and Mei’s House”, which is a replica of the main characters’ house from the My Neighbor Totoro. The house was the site of a Studio Ghibli exhibition in both 2008 and 2015.
Aichi Prefecture budgeted 31 billion Yen (280 million USD) for the construction and 3 billion Yen (30 million USD) for the design and planning process. The work on the designs and the plans began last year.
Aichi Prefecture agreed to the establishment of the park in 2017 with the final confirmation documents being decided upon in 2019 March. The Ghibli Park Inc. Co. jointly established by the Chunichi Shimbun newspaper and Studio Ghibli will be responsible for the operation and management.
The prefecture is aiming to make the park an attraction for both foreign and domestic tourists. Both the prefecture and Studio Ghibli will be funding the operating company that is going to be in charge of the park.
No damage will be caused to the trees of the park. Felling of trees or any other forms of damage has been strictly prohibited.
About Studio Ghibli Inc.
It is a Japanese animation film studio with headquarters in the Koganei area of Tokyo. Famous for its animated films, it was founded on 15th June 1985, by producer Toshio Suzuki and directors Hayao Miyazaki and Isao Takahata.
Source: Nihon Keizai Shimbun, Nagoya TV’s YouTube Channel
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