Studio Ghibli amusement park
Japan is competing with Disneyland
“Howl’s Moving Castle” is just a film from the house of Ghibli, which is supposed to play an important role in the amusement park.
© imago/United Archives
Snow White may soon have competition from Princess Mononoke. Japan is planning a Disneyland counterpart dedicated to anime.
It’s no longer just the fairy tale films about Sleeping Beauty or Cinderella that enchant young and old alike. For years now, anime productions such as “Spirited Away” or “Howl’s Moving Castle” have had a similar effect and at least as much success as the Disney films. Reason enough to stomp the so-called “Studio Ghibli amusement park” out of Japanese soil. The opening of the 200-hectare area in Aichi Prefecture Morikoro Park is scheduled for autumn 2022.
Like it on the official site means there will be five subject areas. Unlike Disneyland, these should do without “specific attractions and play equipment”. They also want to pay attention to the environment during planning and avoid cutting down trees, for example. The area should be known to some from the Aichi Expo in 2005. At that time, the house of the sisters Satsuki and Mei from “My Neighbor Totoro” was built there.
This is what the theme worlds look like in the “Studio Ghibli Leisure Park”.
The film from 1988 is the basis for the theme area in the Dondoko forest area. According to the website, other areas include Seishun Hill (“Howl’s Moving Castle”) and Witches’ Valley (“Howl’s Moving Castle”, “Kiki’s Delivery Service”). A video exhibition room is to be created in the Great Hall and the physical well-being of the guests is to be taken care of.
The last area offers locations from “Princess Mononoke” such as the Tatara Forge. A small drop of bitterness for anime fans: The construction of the “Princess Mononoke” and “Hexental” areas is not planned until 2023. The directors Goro Miyazaki (55) and Hayao Miyazaki (81) are said to be present at the opening.