Studio Ghibli Unveils Its Theme Park Designs

This week, Studio Ghibli formally unveiled their plans for an upcoming theme park in Japan. The designs were shown in a press event this week, including layouts and building illustrations. Visitors will enjoy walking through the worlds of Hayao Miyazaki's beloved animated movies including My Neighbor Totoro, Princess Mononoke, Spirited Away and Howl's Moving Castle.

The theme park will be located near the city of Nagoya in Aichi Prefecture, and is expected to open in 2022. The park will include European building designs based on Miyazaki's films, as well as large sculptures of many famous characters that evoke Japan's mythic and cultural past.

These illustrations are very fascinating and offer a glimpse into how the finished site will look. The park layout is largely forest, keeping as much of the natural environment in place as possible. Many of the locations also feel closer to an outdoor nature preserve than Disney World or Universal Studios. This is a very welcome development.

Personally, I must admit to some hesitation on the idea of a Studio Ghibli theme park. It doesn't seem right to turn these great family movies into a giant cathedral for consumptionism and materialism. I certainly hope this park doesn't include miles of parking lots like one finds in Orlando, or is packed with a thousand tacky merchandising shops. Fortunately, this design feels very low-key, almost as though Hayao Miyazaki created these attractions as a means to lure children outdoors where the real adventures await. It's better to climb trees and hills than stand in line for three hours to ride Splash Mountain.

Of course, I say this as someone who completely loves Disney World. If I could spend my retirement years in the colonial district next to the Hall of Presidents, I'd do that in a heartbeat.

These are only the preliminary designs for the Ghibli Park, so expect some changes and additions in the coming months and years. Its opening will come one or two years after Miyazaki's next (and presumably final, but with him, nobody can ever say) feature animated movie. This park will most likely be his final statement to the world, his farewell and inheritance to future generations. In that spirit, I hope it will be everything that Miyazaki-san wishes it to be.