For example, no trees were cut down in the almost 500-acre location at Miyazaki’s request. The park is designed and constructed in a rather unusual way, but quite in line with the sentiments presented in a lot of their works by trying to be in complete harmony with nature.

The renovated building will continue to be present in the new site.

The site formerly gave home to Japan’s World Expo in 2005, which already included a Ghiblirelated attraction, namely the main characters’ ( Satsuki and Mei’s) home from the 1998 movie “My Neighbor Totoro”. Other attractions pay homage to their other works, like “My Neighbor Totoro”, “Princess Mononoke” or “Kiki’s Delivery Service”.

The site will feature five themed areas inspired by Hayao Miyazaki’s visionary works, including a full sized recreation of the titular building from “Howl’s Moving Castle”, which will be 16 meter (52 feet) tall, with a detailed interior, available to be explored by the visitors. The $323 million project was expected to be completed this year, but due to the pandemic they will open in late 2022, at the earliest. Known for their feature length, meticulously drawn cartoons, Studio Ghibli announced a few years ago their plans of opening the Ghibli Park in Japan’s Aichi Prefecture. Now they decided to follow Disney and make their fantasies a reality! Studio Ghibli might not be as well-known for the general audience as it’s Western counterparts, like Dreamworks or Pixar, but the Japanese company received critical acclaim and garnered cult following all around the globe with their charming, wholesome, animated tales.

West acres cinema studio ghibli