Locations that inspired Ghibli movies

Anyone who has ever seen a Ghibli movie would want to go to the beautiful places in these movies, of course they are drawn to be beautiful by the amazing artists who work on them, but there are lot of places in these movies that have real life inspiration for them. On this article, we will talk about locations in Japan that have inspired movies like Totoro, Spirited away, Princess Mononoke and Ponyo. The spots are almost as beautiful as in the movies, and really gives you something amazing that you would like to go and see, especially if you are a big Ghibli fan.

Spirited away

Let us start with one of the most loved Ghibli movies. Story about a young girl named Chihiro who is transported to the world where gods and Yokai(Japanese spirits and demons) rule and enjoy themselves. Working at a spirit world Onsen Chihiro tries to find and save her parents. The film happens mainly in a large Onsen and it should not be that surprised that the places that inspired the movie are Onsens.

As said, the main place where the story happens is big, old, wooden onsen that looks like it Is from Edo period it has got most inspiration from the Dogo Onsen in Ehime, Kanaguya ryokan and Shibu Onsen in Nagano.

Dogo Onsen

Address: Dogoyunomachi, Mastuyama, Ehime

Phone number: +81 89-921-5141

cost: 260yen – 2000yen Depending what you want in your stay

Website(Only in Japanese)

More info about Dogo Onsen here

Kanaguya ryokan

Address: Shibuonsen, Yamanouchi-machi, Shimotakai-gun 381-0401, Nagano Prefecture

Phone number= +81-269-33-3131

Cost: starting from 2000yen and goes up

Website

Shibu Onsen

Address: 2211-1 Oaza Hirao, Yamanouchi-machi, Shimotakai-gun 381-0401, Nagano Prefecture

Phone number: +81 269-33-2921

Cost: acoomodations starting from around 6000 yen.

Website

More info about Shibu onsen here 

Princess Mononoke

This epic movie set in historical Japan, telling a story about a prince who is stuck between the war of humans greedily trying to take over a forest from the forest creatures and gods. This movie happens mostly in a beautiful forest where the trees are old as time it self and animals run free, this forest was inspired by the Yakushima Island. The forests on the island look like they would be straight from a fantasy, most likely why they inspired such a fantasy epic as Princess Mononoke. When walking around in this beautiful forest you can almost feel like the forest gods and creatures are watching you from the shadows, making sure you are not there to disturb their peace.

Adress: Yakushima-cho Kumage-gun, Kagoshima

More info about Yakushima Island here

Ponyo

Ponyo is bit more light-hearted than the previous two from Ghibli but this like all the Ghibli movies will still make you feel. This story is about an adventurous fish princess and a 5-year-old boy who saves her, how she wants to become a human and the adventure they are whirled in to. Ponyo happens mostly in an ocean and a small harbor town. The places in Ponyo were inspired by the Harbor town of Tomonoura in the Hiroshima prefecture. The town in the movie might be smaller than the real one, but you can still feel the same feel as from the town in the movie. And who knows, maybe from the beach you will find a little fish stuck in a glass bottle as well.

Address: Fukuyama 720-0202, Hiroshima Prefecture

Phone number: +81-84-982-3200

More info about Tomonoura from here 

My neighbor Totoro

This is again one of those movies that even people who usually do not watch Ghibli movies might have still watched and loved it. Totoro is about two sisters who must move to the countryside to be closer to their sick mother and how they find weird forest creatures among them the adorable but huge Totoro. Countryside in this movie, could be one of the many small countryside towns and small buildings all over Japan. But the one that is actually called the Totoro forest is Sayama Hills, Saitama about half an hour away from Tokyo, even though it is that close to Tokyo it is still a already beautiful countryside with the beautiful large forest. Totoro forest is preserved by the Totoro no furusato foundation which works on preserving the beautiful forest and the areas near it, check also their site from here . Also among other things there is the Kurosukes house with a Totoro inside it and other things related to Totoro.

Kurosuke’s house open time: Tu,We,Sat 10:00 – 15:00

Address to the house : 3 Chome-1169-1 Mikajima, Tokorozawa-shi, Saitama-ken 359-1164

Address to the park: Tokorozawa, Saitama Prefecture 359-0000, Japan

More about Totoro website from here

The wind rises

This Film from Ghibli is loosely based on the real-life airplane engineer Jiro Horikoshi. The film came out on 2013 as always, a film from Ghibli and specially the last movie from director Hayao Miyazaki, the movie was full of feelings and very of its own kind. The movie is set on the time of the second world war and of course because it is about a real person you could go around seeing places that the real person visited, but the place where the main characters meet at, the beautiful hotel at the mountains, looks like the Kamikochi Imperial Hotel, very similar area and the building itself as well is amazingly similar.

Address: Azumikamikochi, Matsumoto-shi, Nagano 390-1516

Phone number: +81-263-95-2001 (General) +81-263-95-2006 (Room Reservations 9:00 a.m. - 6:00 p.m.)

Website

Whisper of the heart

This movie is a heartwarming love story of a girl who loves books and about a boy who has the same taste in books as her with a Ghibli twist of course. This is a rare film because the town from the film is actually a real place it is located in Tama, Tokyo from the station of Seiseki-Sakuragaoka there is even a map to lead you to different locations of the movie, so you should definitely check it out if you are in Tokyo and you are a Ghibli fan.

Address: 1 Chome-10 Sekido, Tama-shi, Tōkyō-to 206-0011, Japan

Other areas

Ghibli museum

 Well of course you cannot talk about areas about Ghibli and not mention the Ghibli museum, which is not really inspiration for any of the locations of the films but museum and experience about all of the Ghibli movies, to learn more about the museum and how to get tickets and to go there check this link here

Edo-Tokyo Open Air Architectural Museum

There is not really a one single movie that this museum is in, or is it a Ghibli museum or anything like that, But there are a buildings that were used as a reference for ghibli movies and that can make you feel like just for a second you are in one of your favorite Ghibli movies. For more informations about this museum please check this link