Title: Ghibli Park Exhibition
The architectural and environmental storytelling of Ghibli Park—Studio Ghibli’s expansive permanent facility in Nagakute City, Aichi Prefecture—arrives in Osaka this summer in distilled form. Opening at the Osaka Nanko ATC Gallery, this exhibition extracts the essential interactive and visual elements of the distant park and reconfigures them for an urban museum context, offering an alternative for those unable to make the journey to Aichi while introducing several elements exclusive to this Osaka staging.
Central to the exhibition is the “Little Ghibli Park,” a navigable installation that maps the original park’s five thematic zones onto a compact format. Visitors traverse the space following the mechanics of a sugoroku board game—a traditional Japanese racing game format—encountering mechanical gimmicks and interactive elements at each stage without requiring the extensive walking distances necessary at the Aichi location.
The exhibition also imports two specific installations previously housed exclusively within Ghibli’s Grand Warehouse. “‘Drawing Eating’ Expanded and Revised Edition” examines the studio’s gastronomic animation through original storyboards and three-dimensional recreations of eating sequences, offering insight into the technical execution of the studio’s famously detailed culinary scenes. Complementing this, the “Ghibli Role-Play Famous Scenes Exhibition” provides physical sets calibrated for photography, allowing visitors to occupy specific cinematic moments (including those from Porco Rosso, visible in the gallery documentation) rather than merely observing them.
First-time exhibition content includes a newly completed three-dimensional model of Haku in his dragon manifestation from Spirited Away—a piece specifically fabricated for this Osaka showing and not previously displayed at the Aichi park.
■ Complimentary Ticket Giveaway!
Complimentary tickets for this exhibition will be given to 2 pairs (4 people total) via lottery! The application page is here.
Event Period: 2026/7/18 (Sat) – 9/26 (Sat)
Event Hours: 9:00–17:00 (Final admission is 16:30)
Venue: Osaka Nanko ATC Gallery (2-1-10 Nankokita, Suminoe-ku, Osaka City)
Fees: [Date and Time Specified Tickets]
- General: 1,900 yen
- Junior High & High School Students: 1,600 yen
- Ages 4 to Elementary School Students: 1,000 yen
Admission Time Slots:
First slot 9:00–9:30, thereafter admission times are specified at 30-minute intervals (Final admission is 16:30).
All tickets for this exhibition are [Date and Time Specified]. Please purchase your tickets in advance before visiting. Tickets will not be sold at the venue.
Tickets for July and August admission (7/18–8/31) are now on sale.
Tickets for September admission (9/1–26) will go on sale 8/1 (Sat) at 10:00.
Children aged 3 and under are free of charge (no advance reservation required), but please enter with a companion holding a date and time specified ticket.
Those entering at the Junior High/High School student rate are requested to present a student ID.
For every person holding a disability certificate, one “caregiver” may enter at half the general price. Please purchase the “Caregiver Discount” ticket type. The person with the disability requires a standard admission ticket.
Inquiries: 06-6136-5766 (10:00–17:00 *Available weekdays only until 7/17 (Fri))
Website: https://ghiblipark-exhibition.jp/
Ghibli Park opened in November 2022 in Nagakute, Aichi Prefecture, on the grounds of the former Expo 2005 Aichi Commemorative Park. It is not an amusement park. There are no roller coasters, spinning rides, or queue-based attractions. Instead, the park consists of five walk-through areas built at architectural scale, designed to be explored on foot.
The Hill of Youth contains the antique shop and clock tower from Whisper of the Heart, reconstructed to match the film’s exact dimensions. Dondo Forest centers on Satsuki and Mei’s House from My Neighbor Totoro, built among existing camphor trees that predate the construction. Mononoke Village recreates the ironworks and settlement from Princess Mononoke using traditional timber framing and thatching methods. The Valley of Witches combines structures from Howl’s Moving Castle and Kiki’s Delivery Service into a coherent European townscape. The Ghibli Grand Warehouse, the only indoor area, houses exhibition halls with rotating displays of animation cels and production materials.
Studio Ghibli designed the park to alter the existing terrain as little as possible. Buildings follow the natural slope of the land, and pathways wind around mature trees rather than cutting through them. This construction approach accounts for the uneven footing, varying elevations, and the way structures seem to settle into the landscape rather than sit on top of it.
Visitors encounter specific, tangible details: the brands of canned goods in Calcifer’s kitchen, the handwriting on desk calendars, the wear patterns on wooden stairs. Without guided tours, character actors, or timed shows, visitors move through these spaces at their own pace. The experience resembles walking through a permanent film set where the props are functional objects and the architecture operates as real built space rather than façade.
