Let’s Play at Satsuki and Mei’s House is hopefully a sign of things to come.

Last year we learned that it’s possible to feel warm and fuzzy while simultaneously also feeling extremely jealous. The reason for this discovery? Finding out that the staff of the Ghibli theme park in Japan’s Aichi Prefecture actually cooked in the kitchen of the real-world version of the My Neighbor Totoro house.

As revealed in a post from the Ghibli Park official Twitter account, members of the staff gathered inside the kitchen of sisters Mei and Satsuki’s house and cooked a pot of rice using its wood-burning stove, plus filled and heated up the bath in the house’s bathroom, also by burning wood. This helps give the house a lived-in feel, and that extra touch of authenticity is totally in keeping with the hands-on way of doing things that Studio Ghibli is known for.

At the same time, fans couldn’t help but be envious of the staff for being able to eat something cooked in the actual Totoro kitchen, and many mused that they’d like to have the opportunity themselves. It looks like that’s finally going to be a possibility this spring with the Let’s Play at Satsuki and Mei’s House event. 60 participants will be randomly selected to visit the home to cook rice and heat up the bath the old-fashioned way, with Goro Miyazaki, who was Studio Ghibli’s primary creative contributor in the planning of Ghibli Park, also attending to give a special talk.

There is, however, a bit of a catch. Let’s Play at Mei and Satsuki’s House is part of the 20th anniversary celebration of the Expo 2005 world’s fair that was held in Aichi and was the original reason the real-world Totoro house was built (Ghibli Park is also located within Expo 2005 Aichi Commemorative Park, which served as the fair’s venue). In keeping with that, Let’s Play at Satsuki and Mei’s House, which is scheduled for April 1 is limiting eligibility to children living in Aichi Prefecture who are in the fifth or sixth grade of elementary school, which works out to ages 10 to 12 (applications can be made online here).

This is still good news for all Ghibli fans, though, even if you’re outside the eligible demographic. With Let’s Play at Mei and Satsuki’s House being just a one-day event, it’s likely that as long as it goes smoothly Ghibli Park will offer other opportunities for fans to come in and cook in the Totoro house in the future, and hopefully on some of those days grown-ups will get a chance too.

Source: Aichi Prefectural Government
Top image: Ghibli Park
Insert image: Studio Ghibli
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