Nearly two years ago, Ghibli Park was first opened in the Aichi Commemorative Expo Park, northeast of Nagoya. Ghibli Park is an open-air museum of sorts, with replica houses, buildings, and environments from various works by Ghibli Film. In the center of it all, is the Ghibli Warehouse, which houses a museum, other exhibits, a theater, shops, and several other recreations of Ghibli works and history.
There are four open-air areas of the Ghibli Park, each require an advanced ticket to enter. Each area is spread around the Expo Park. Here's a map:
In addition to the Ghibli Warehouse ジブリの大倉庫 in the middle, the Hill of Youth 青春の丘 is near one of the main parking lots and the train station in the north. It's most likely the first area you'll come across. Near the other parking lot and to the south is Dondoko Forest どんどの森. These were the first areas available when Ghibli Park first opened on November 1st, 2022. Since then, in November 2023, the Mononoke Village もののけの里 in the northeast was completed. And most centralized and most recently opened in March 2024 is the Valley of Witches 魔女の谷.
One of my friends visited the park a year or more ago, and said it wasn't all that special, but this is absolutely not the case. Seeing the scale of these areas in person is incredible. Climbing to the scenic lookout point, prior to the park's opening, and peering down at a life-size replica of Howl's Moving Castle brought up feelings that I didn't know I had.
DAMN. That's it. That's fricken it! The madmen did it!
Tickets for the Ghibli Park are all purchased in advance, online through Lawson. There are 4 different types of tickets available, with different levels of access to the park. The main tickets are purchases 2 months in advance, but there are last-minute tickets you can buy within 7 days prior to visit.
The standard ticket is the Grand Sanpo Pass, or Grand Walking Pass. This pass allows entrance to all four outdoor areas of Ghibli Park, and gives a specific entrance time to the Ghibli Warehouse. When you buy the ticket, the time you're choosing is when you can enter the Warehouse. You can enter any of the outside areas at anytime throughout the day. Tickets are 3500円.
The second ticket is the Grand Sanpo Premium Pass. This also has a specific time for the Warehouse and allows entrance to all four outdoor areas. The Premium part allows entrance to specific buildings inside of the areas, including Mei & Satsuki's Home, the Earth Antique Store, Okino's Residence, the Witch's Home, and Howl's Moving Castle. Without a premium pass, you cannot enter these buildings. This ticket is 7300円.
There's a third ticket which only includes access to Mononoke Village, The Valley of Witches, and all buildings in the Valley of Witches. Because these two areas are recent additions to the Ghibli Park, they created a new ticket just for people who had visited in the first year. This ticket is 3300円, and I think it will only be available temporarily for a little while longer.
The final type of ticket is the last-minute Sanpo Pass. This ticket can only be purchased 7 days before your arrival, and it only includes the 4 outdoor areas of the park. There's no access to buildings, and no access to the Ghibli Warehouse. Also, you only have 3 hours to use your tickets to enter the areas. This ticket is only 1500円.
I purchased the 3500円 Grand Sanpo Pass for November 1st, the 2-year anniversary of the park's opening. The Premium Pass sold out too quickly for me to buy, but there seemed like a lot to do already. There were so many places to go and see. I wanted this trip to be more of a dry run rather than an exhaustive one. My warehouse entry time was Noon.
Despite Ghibli Park's website clearly stating that there is absolutely no parking, there was plenty of parking. I think they state this based on a technicality that Ghibli Park itself has no dedicated parking, but the Expo Park has plenty.
While Ghibli Park is the main draw (and often only draw) for the Expo Park, Ghibli Park still treats itself part of the area, rather than the whole thing. As such, the park is almost completely open. I arrived at around 8:30am, well before the 10am opening time. I was planning on sitting in my car, and going through photos. But, so many people were walking in after they parked.
Unlike a typical theme park or museum, there is no gate, and no perimeter closing the park off to people who didn't have tickets.
The bell tower elevator was completely open. Just hop in, and go down to the park area without showing a ticket or anything. I kept looking around for where I needed to scan my ticket or what I needed to do.
Each of the specific areas of Ghibli Park are ticketed, but the entire park itself is completely open. You don't need a ticket to walk around the park! Plus, there are a lot of things you can do and see without even having a ticket.
Opening around 9am was the observation point. I walked up to the top, and it gave a full view of the Valley of Witches, the newest and largest addition to the park. Again, no ticket required.
No one was yet around, but some of the buildings were being prepared for today's crowds.
From the observation point, I walked down through the other path which led to the Mononoke Village. I got yelled at for entering the area even though it was all open. So, I walked around the park for a while and got a good idea of the overall layout. I came back at 10am, and gained entry.
The Mononoke Village is an open area designed to look like the Emishi village at the beginning of the film. There is a path that cuts through rice fields, with the village's lookout tower, destroyed when the demon Nago attacks the village. Not far away is Nago itself covered and infested with the demon worms.
Nearby is also Okkoto on the brink of being infested and corrupted. Children can climb through him, and slide down his back.
Besides the gift-shop, the main building in the Mononoke Village is an old-style hall with a grass roof. The roof has about 3 inches of dirt, wet to the touch, for the grass to grow from.
There is an outer fence surrounding the perimeter of the hall. If the fence had grass covering, too, the hall would look like it blended into the scenery, completely camouflaged from anyone moving by, possibly explaining with the Emishi were so unknown and mythical in the film. Inside, you could spend 1200円 to cook your own Goheimochi.
Overall, the Mononoke area was big, but there wasn't a whole lot to do.
Every area within Ghibli Park has its own gift shop with general and exclusive merchandise. The Mononoke Village had an Ashitaka hat, like the one in the film, some plushies, and some pins and buttons.
Every area has a button badge that matches the art from the website. The buttons are only 300円, so it's not too expensive to hunt down the full set by doing to each area.
Spoilers, but I was able to collect them all.
Collecting each of the buttons was a lot like a stamp rally. It was fun hunting them down, although the process certainly prays of my sense of consumerism. Many of the gift shops have lines, so while you wait to buy the buttons, you're also tempted to buy other stuff too.
Because of the exclusive merchandise, throughout all of Ghibli Park, I ended up buying things from 7 different gift shops. My main gets are pictured above: the buttons and the Ghibli Park Guide Book. I bought a bunch of other things as Christmas Presents.
Note: Even though there are photo icons or badges of the premium areas on the website, there are no button badges for them.
Just outside of the Mononoke Village is a non-ticket area called the Cat Castle Playground. It has a separate entrance fee but it's free on weekdays. I just walked around and took some photos.
There were small easter-eggs throughout the rooms and areas in the playground. Almost all of the references were things related to what cats would like. It was fine, but the playground was really not designed for me. Elementary school kids were the prime demographic, but I think even the older 5th and 6th graders would probably get bored pretty quickly.
Having only spent about 40 minutes in Mononoke Village and the Cat Castle Playground, I still had more than an hour before my Warehouse entry time. I went to the furthest area away, Dondoko Forest.
There's a shortcut to the Forest by cutting through another forest. By walking through the gate and greeting the stone statue, you can take the steep, casual, or middle course going up the hill, and back down the other side. Alternatively, you could also take the cat bus from the station in front of Mononoke Village to the other side of the park. I didn't realize this at the time, but I'm more of a walker, anyway.
The Dondoko Forest is one of the more barebones areas in the park. Once you enter through the gate, you have the option of walking or taking the tram to the top of the hill. I walked. But, I also got a little lost in the forest. Signage is not so great. At the top, you're greeted by a Totoro statue, and the gift shop.
The Totoro statue acts like a shrine to commemorate your ascent of the hill. The gift shop sells netsuke, amulets, and charms similar to items you'd find at a shrine with various Ghibli characters. This is where I bought the area's button.
Leading down the hill are the wooden gates welcoming you to the Dondoko Forest. This leads to the exit.
At the foot of the hill near the exit is the oldest building of Ghibli Park.
Prior to the park's opening, the Satsuki and Mei home will built in 2005, and it's been available to visit on its own since then. I had visited the house in 2019 with my sister and niece. Now, it's part of the premium pass.
The Satsuki Mei home is a replica house like the character's new country home in Totoro. There's the bath, well, attic, and atrium where their father wrote his book next to piles and piles of other books. Everything is created with specific attention to detail to recreate the scenes exactly as they appeared in the film.
It was pretty crowded when we visited in 2019, but now, being part of the premium pass and how exclusive those tickets are, I'm sure it's much more relaxed and open.
Having finished the Dondoko area, I walked back to the center of the park and waited in line for the Warehouse. My entry time was Noon, and the time was 11:30am.
The Ghibli Warehouse is one of the key areas of the park. It's like an expanded version of the Ghibli Museum near Tokyo. You get a ticket to watch an exclusive Ghibli Film. There are areas showcasing the creativity and history of Ghibli. And, much like the rest of the park, tons of areas that replicate scenes and characters from Ghibli Film's library of works.
There is so much here. I'm going to make a separate post about it. You can look at the photos now, though, if you'd like.
Ultimately, I stayed in the warehouse for over 2 hours. 20 minutes of that was waiting in line at the gift shop. I got my button, plus other gifts.
It began raining, but, next, it was finally time to visit the other key area of the park, the Valley of Witches. This area focuses on the works of Ghibli Film that specifically deal with magic, namely Kiki's Delivery Service, Earwig and the Witch, and Howl's Moving Castle.
Connected to the entrance, is The Flying Oven, a full service restaurant with many dishes and treats, like the ones you've seen in Ghibli Film. Maybe an oversight on my part, but I did not eat anything in the park, at all. I had a pizza in my car from visiting Costco the day before, so I already had more food than I needed. I'll do more of a food journey on my next trip.
The road leading into the main area slowly reveals more and more buildings of the town. The first building is The Witch's Home, from Earwig and the Witch. This is the home where Bella Yaga and Mandarake live, and bring Earwig after they adopt her. This home is part of the premium pass, so I could not enter.
The road continues passed a fountain and some more buildings. There's a building with a confusing layout that is inspired by a boy who dreams of flying, like the puzzles in Laputa or Kiki. I didn't really notice any strong references.
Next to this building is the valley's Clock Tower. The Clock Tower sits at the edge of ruins from a possibly city, leading to Howl's Moving Castle.
Howl's Moving Castle was magnificent. While it's not one of my favorites, it's still a film that I treasure and have fond memories of watching it with friends and family across different eras of my life. Seeing this one-to-one scale recreation of the mythical building was inspiring. Visiting the inside would probably bring up even more feelings. But, premium only.
While Howl's Moving Castle is the crown jewel of the park looking from the Outside, the Okino Residence is the other treasure, but more from the inside. Also, premium only.
The Okino Residence is Kiki's childhood home. This is where she lived before leaving on her journey and training to become a witch in the city of Koriko. Looking at photos online, there are beautiful rooms, like her mother's potion laboratory, the witch's shop, kitchen, and bedrooms.
Going back into the main town is the Guuchoki Bakery where Kiki lived with the Osono family. Connected to the bakery, is the Hatter's Hat Shop (from Howl), which sells hats and candy, the Witch's Bookshelf on the second floor, with various books about magic, and Sophie's workshop also on the second floor.
Nearby is a Hot Dog stand selling hot dogs with buns that look like cat's paws. They also sell beer, apparently. (Man, I need to back). On the way out of the Valley Witches is the main gift store, Thirteen Witches. This is where I bought the button.
The final area that I had yet to visit was the Hill of Youth.
There are two buildings here. The main one is the antique shop from Whisper of the Heart. The ground floor is filled with antiques, and the second floor is filled with mechanical clocks and materials for creating violins. The inside of the building is premium only, and the gift shop is inside, too. In order to get my final button, I had to ask one of attendants and she escorted me inside to the store to quickly buy it.
The other building of the Hill of Youth is the Cat Office from The Cat Returns, the spin-off film to Whisper of the Heart. It's a small "cat-sized" building you can only view by peering through the windows. Inside, the Baron meets with Muta.
Without a premium pass, this area is pretty empty.
Overall, Ghibli Park is pretty incredible. With all the terrible shit in the world, it's amazing that there's a place you can visit that brings you back to those pure feelings of creativity and wonder that Ghibli Films so often inspire. I suppose this is how people felt when visiting Disney Land, 30 or 40 years ago, before it went bad.
While the Premium Tickets are pretty expensive, exclusive, and also gate some of the best parts of the park, the other passes aren't all that expensive and relatively easy to buy. In fact, the outdoor-only pass at only 1500円 available 7 days before arrival is an excellent last minute purchase for your trip to Japan.
Actually, after writing up this post and looking at the things I missed (like the food and beer), I may just buy one of those 1500円 passes and go back there over winter vacation on a day with really good weather. It's a really easy day trip for me.
I would definitely recommend a visit, and I would also recommend this over the Ghibli Museum in Tokyo. There is way more to do in Ghibli Park and tickets are easier to get.