Sanpo in Ghibli Park

Animation is one of the most important aspects of Japanese culture in Japan. There are a number of animations, and some of them are very well-known around the world. Recently, ONE PIECE, MY HERO ACADEMIA, and Knights of the Zodiac were made into live-action movies. That’s how much Japanese animation has been drawing increasing attention.

Ghibli is a world-famous animation and is fascinating to many people all over the world. The description of nature in Ghibli is too beautiful for words. The story stirs our emotions. The Ghibli worldview is one and only. Ghibli lovers must want to be inside the Ghibli world.

You know what? There is a park named “Ghibli Park” that makes their dreams come true in Aichi, Japan. When you visit there, you must feel like you’ve gotten sucked into the world. In this article, I’ll show you some great parts of Ghibli Park.

Introduction

The Ghibli Park opened on 1 November 2022. It’s located within the Expo 2005 Aichi Commemorative Park in Nagakute city near Nagoya, about three hours by train from Tokyo. There is the Ghibli Museum in Tokyo but Ghibli Park is different from it. The Ghibli Park has 5 areas -Ghibli’s Grand Warehouse, Hill of Youth, Dondoko Forest, Mononoke Village and Valley of Witches- separated according to the theme. Ghibli’s Grand Warehouse is a wonderful display of all things Ghibli. You can enjoy all of the Ghibli worlds. The Hill of Youth features the World Emporium, one of the locations from Whisper of the Heart, the Cat Bureau from The Cat Returns. There is Satsuki and Mei’s House in Dondoko Forest. Needless to say, Mononoke Village produces Princess Mononoke’s world. Valley of Witches is inspired by Studio Ghibli’s witch-related films such as Kiki’s Delivery Service, Howl’s Moving Castle, and Earwig and the Witch. If you want to enjoy the whole world, you need to buy a ticket for each.

In this article, I’m going to introduce the Ghibli Grand Warehouse that Ghibli fans must go to.

The beautiful gate leading to Ghibli World

You can see the gate as soon as you get off at the closest station from Ghibli Park. The beautiful clock tower stands beyond the gate. The elevator is equipped with a clock tower. Visitors can get into Ghibli Park through the elevator. You must be excited in front of the gate because you can see only the clock tower before getting in the elevator and the clock tower may look like a magic entrance.

The Grand Warehouse

After getting off the elevator, you will go to the wide square. There is the Warehouse within a few minutes’ sanpo (taking a walk) of the exit of the elevator. The entrance is decorated with stained glass. You must be surprised as soon as you go in because you feel totally immersed in the Ghibli’s world.

You will find some film sets that imitate Ghibli animations soon, but I’ll keep them secret for your fun here.

As you move forward, you will come to a spacious area. You can see the symbolic view of the Grand Warehouse. There is a clock at the top of the stairs. The stairs are decorated with blue tiles. Moreover, an airship is above the stairs. The airship reminds me of Castle in the Sky.  When I watched the movie, I dreamed of flying and exploring an unknown island.

There is an entrance to the warehouse on the left side of the stairs. A lot of artwork of Ghibli animation is stored in the warehouse. The artworks are arranged randomly, for example  Baron is next to Howl’s Castle. I was excited when I watched Howl’s Castle because my most favorite Ghibli animation is Howl’s Moving Castle. I’m sure you can find the artwork of your favorite animation.

If you arrive at the Grand Warehouse in the morning, you should have lunch. There is a cafe called “Transcontinental Flight Cafe” in the Grand Warehouse area. The cafe has a line-up of sandwiches, pizza and sweets, etc. I had a spicy shrimp sandwich. The flag of the Ghibli character was attached to the sandwich. It’s a valuable flag to Ghibli fans. The attached flags are randomly assigned and each flag is different. What character flag do you want?

That’s only a part of a lot of the attractiveness of Ghibli Park. There are so many fun spots to visit, and it’s so crowded that you can spend the whole day there. As I explained at the beginning of this article, there are four other areas. If you visit all areas, I recommend that you plan your time schedule accordingly. 

Anyway, whether you’re a Ghibli fan or not, this is a recommended sport in Nagoya. When you come here, you’ll feel like you’ve wandered into the world of Ghibli. Once you visit there, you must want to go again.