Tokyo, 10 August, /AJMEDIA/
We’re less than three months away from the opening of Ghibli Park, the Studio Ghibli theme park being built in Aichi Prefecture just outside Nagoya. Like with the Ghibli Museum in Tokyo, admission to Ghibli Park is by reserved, pre-purchase tickets only, and the park has released an animated reminder video produced by none other than anime director extraordinaire Hayao Miyazaki.
Watch the video on Twitter here.
Coming in from the right edge of the frame is what at first appears to be “My Neighbor Totoro’s” Catbus, but it turns out this is actually a Cattrain, carrying a number of the cast members from the Studio Ghibli filmography. Up front is Totoro himself, accompanied by a mid-size blue Totoro and Mei, while the second segment of the train’s passengers include No Face and the Radish Sprit from “Spirited Away.”
The video is actually a reworking of an animated sequence Miyazaki drew for the opening of the Ghibli Museum in 2001, but updated with the message “Ghibli Park opens November 1” written along the Cattrain’s side.
Hisaishi (who’s also directing the live-action Totoro stage play in London) and narration by producer Toshio Suzuki, one of Ghibli’s three co-founders, who informs us that Ghibli park tickets go on sale on the 10th of every month and asks that visitors “Take your time coming,” in keeping with the park’s desire for an uncongested environment and unhurried atmosphere.
In addition, Ghibli Park has released a handful of new preview photos for the sections of the park that will be opening in November.
