Ghibli Park Opens in Aichi, a Theme Park Without Rides
The park opened its first three areas on 1 November 2022 in the grounds of the 2005 Expo near Nagoya, with entry by timed reservation and buildings from the films set among the trees.
Ghibli Park opened on 1 November 2022 in Nagakute, east of Nagoya, in the park that hosted the 2005 World Expo. It is the first large-scale site devoted to the films of Studio Ghibli, and it differs from a conventional theme park in an important way: there are no rides. Visitors walk through full-scale buildings and landscapes from the films, set within an existing forest park.
The first three areas
Three areas opened in 2022. Ghibli’s Grand Warehouse is the main one, an indoor hall in a former heated swimming pool building, several times larger than the Ghibli Museum in Mitaka. It contains exhibition rooms, a cinema showing short films, a children’s play area with a Catbus, and reconstructed scenes in which visitors can step into frames from the films.
The Hill of Youth, near the entrance, has the antique shop from Whisper of the Heart and a miniature Cat Bureau from The Cat Returns. Dondoko Forest holds the house of Satsuki and Mei from My Neighbor Totoro, a 1950s rural house furnished down to the contents of its drawers. It was first built for the Expo in 2005 and is the seed from which the park grew.
Later phases
Two further areas followed. Mononoke Village opened in November 2023 and the Valley of Witches, with the bakery from Kiki’s Delivery Service and a version of Howl’s castle, in March 2024.
How it was made
The park was planned by Goro Miyazaki, director and son of Hayao Miyazaki, and built by Aichi Prefecture at a cost of about 34 billion yen. The principle was to cut down no trees and to fit the buildings into the park, which remains a free public space; only the Ghibli areas require tickets. Craftsmen used traditional methods and materials on the houses, and the level of detail rewards slow looking.
Tickets and access
Entry is by advance reservation for a set date and time, and tickets for each area were sold separately at opening. They sell out weeks ahead, especially for the Grand Warehouse, and overseas visitors should buy through the official international sales channel as soon as dates open. The park is about 45 minutes from Nagoya Station by subway and the Linimo maglev line to Ai-Chikyuhaku-Kinen-Koen Station. Nagoya is 35 minutes from Kyoto and about 100 minutes from Tokyo by shinkansen, so the park works as a stop between the two.