And yes, there’s a tiny Totoro working the ticket booth!
Earlier this month, we were enchanted by a gorgeous 3-D puzzle of the Aburaya bathhouse from Hayao Miyazaki’s anime masterpiece Spirited Away. But to Ghibli fans, there’s a real-world location just as magical as anywhere in the studio’s animated films, and that’s the Ghibli Museum in Tokyo.
In addition to housing exhibits on animated works from both Ghibli and other creators, the museum itself is designed in an imaginative style that simultaneously stimulates your curiosity and soothes your soul, much like Ghibli’s movies themselves, and there’s even a way to recreate the whimsical architecture at home.
The Ghibli Museum Original Miniature Kit is a 1:300-scale papercraft replica of the facility that sits in a corner of the Mitaka neighborhood’s Inokashira Park. The kit comes with more than two dozen sheets of supplies from which you assemble the curved entry hall, colorful main building, and even the rustic on-site cafe where Miyazaki and veteran producer Toshio Suzuki recently stopped by for a cream soda and pork cutlet sandwich.
▼ Check out Totoro standing in the ticket booth, just like at the actual museum!
Much of the museum’s design was done by Hayao Miyazaki’s son Goro, who in addition to his work as a director is also a landscaper. As such, the grounds of the Ghibli Museum are filled with comforting garden elements, and the kit also comes with leafy model trees, green ground cover, and sand.
▼ Another Ghibli character makes his appearance: the statue of Laputa: Castle in the Sky’s robot on the roof, once again mirroring the real museum in Tokyo.
Measuring 27 by 19 centimeters (10.6 by 7.5 inches), the replica is large enough to let you appreciate all of its details, but compact enough to make for a feasible desk or table decoration.
While the kit itself isn’t brand-new, it’s ordinarily only offered for sale at the on-site gift shop, meaning that if you wanted to buy one, you needed a ticket to the Ghibli Museum, plus one to Tokyo, if you don’t live locally (basically the same dilemma as if you want to see the My Neighbor Totoro sequel). However, the online shop of Ghibli merchandise specialty store chain Donguri Kyowakoku has recently begun selling it here, priced at 20,000 yen (US$190), which is about 60,000 yen cheaper than it used to be (the kit also includes the first layer of the frame, though not the second layer shown in this article’s first photograph). Unfortunately, the store is out of stock at the moment, but here’s hoping a new batch comes in soon.
Source, images: Donguri Kyowakoku
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