Ghibli Park, Nagakute, Aichi (Nagoya)

A newer attraction not to be confused with Ghibli Museum, Mitaka (Tokyo), “Ghibli Park” consists of five areas devoted to various films of Japanese animation studio “Studio Ghibli”. Each area contains lovingly recreated buildings and scenery from the films often including highly detailed interiors (which require specific tickets to enter). As opposed to the Ghibli Museum in Tokyo, Ghibli Park is more of an outdoor theme park with full-sized reproduction of Ghibli film scenes but, as such, may leave some purists disappointed but, nonetheless, it does look amazing though I found it slightly disappointing having not purchased the ticket (on reading their advice) that allows access to everything…

Leaving the train station you are at the top of the park and have to pass by a LAWSON and gift shop to get to the elevator (lift) to take you into the heart of the park (there is also a walking path to the right). From there you can access all of the attractions relatively easily by foot but there is a free land train that periodically passes (listen for the theme music it plays) which might be useful when navigating to “Dondoka Forest” which is at the far end of the site and quite a walk.

There are five different themed areas in the park that can be visited:

• Ghibli's Grand Warehouse - A massive warehouse containing an exhibition space as well as full-sized recreations of scenes from various Ghibli films (including a “Instagram friendly” exhibit where you can have your picture taken in static scenes from various films), and a cinema showing various Ghibli short films. A timed ticket is required to get into the warehouse with a cinema ticket given to you on entry (only the one).

• Hill of Youth - Entrance to this small part of the park near the elevator at the main park entrance is free though you need tickets to enter the “World Emporium” building.

• Dondoka Forest - Based on the film “My Neighbour Totoro”, entrance to this forested area on the far side of the park is free though you need tickets to enter “Satsuki and Mei's House”.

• Mononoke Village - Based on the film “Princess Mononoke”, tickets are required to enter this small section of the park. There is very little here other than the central “Tatara-ba” building which is used as a learning centre currently providing cooking experiences for which an advance ticket must be purchased.

• Valley of Witches - Based on the film “Kiki's Delivery Service”, this newest area of the park is close to the Ghibli Warehouse and requires a ticket to access with a separate ticket to access “The Okino Residence”, “Howl's Castle”, and “The House of Witches”. There are several places to eat here including a bakery and sweet shop.

All of the areas have souvenir shops which generally carry the same items.

There are also walking trails through the site including one over the hill to/from the “Dondoka Forest”.

Additionally, there is a large outdoor foodcourt featuring street food trucks in the middle of the park immediately beside the “Ghibli Warehouse” (with the quiet “Mikazuki Rest Area” a small heated/air conditioned building with seating and toilet facilities).

Access to the park site is free but each of the areas need their own ticket then attractions within each area may require either specific booking or an additional ticket. Tickets must be purchased in advance and sell out VERY quickly. Currently tickets are available from the official site two months ahead of time on the 10th of the month at 2pm (JAPAN TIME) so, for example, March tickets go on sale on January 10th at 2 pm (JAPAN TIME).

Current ticket options are:

• Ghibli Park O-Sanpo Day Pass - Access to all areas including Ghibli Warehouse, but not the buildings.
• Ghibli Park O-Sanpo Day Pass Premium - Access to all areas and all buildings within them.

The ticketed web site suggests that the premium is perhaps too much to do in one day but with our experience, it should be easily possible to fully utilize if you arrive at the park shortly after it opens.

Ghibli Park is located on the outskirts of Nagoya. It is recommended you take local transport which is either by taking a subway (or several subways) to the “Linimo” rapid transit train (to “Ai-Chikyuhaku Kinen Koen” station, with LOTS of English signs directing you to the entrance) OR a bus shuttle from Nagoya Station. It may be possible to drive here but it is NOT recommended with no specific car park available.

For further information, please see:

• Ghibli Park (Japanese)
• Ghibli Park (English)