7 Things To Do At Ghibli Park, Nagoya

7 things to do at Ghibli Park, Nagoya

By Anna Purpurpurpur

Ghibli Park is a newly opened theme park dedicated to Studio Ghibli characters! It opened in 2022 on the premises of Expo 2005, so during your visit, you can see the pavilions of Ghibli Park and Aichi Commemorative Park together.

Now, five different areas are open: Ghibli’s Grand Warehouse, the only part you have to enter at a particular time; Hill of Youth; Dondoko Forest; Valley of Witches; and Mononoke Village. Also scroll down for a review of TIAD hotel, Nagoya!

1. Get ready in advance

The official website where you can check all the information is ghibli-park.jp. The tickets for foreigners are limited, so don’t forget to book yours two months before your trip. You can visit some attractions only with Premium pass tickets – so consider buying this option. Please see some screenshots for the additional info below (the screenshots are taken in June 2024).

2. Take photos at Ghibli’s Grand Warehouse

Ghibli’s Grand Warehouse is a page pavilion mainly with photo zones from different movies and other immersive activities. This is the only spot where you get a timed ticket!

We came for the 11 o’clock entrance, and it was already very crowded inside the Warehouse. Some parts of it resemble the Mitaka Ghibli studio as there are exhibitions with drawings (for instance, on food) and Screening room cinema where you can watch an exclusive short movie (we watched the one about Mr. Dough and the Egg Princess).

In the photo zones, Spirited Away, Ponyo, My Neighbour Totoro and many other movies are referenced (but again, those rooms are really very crowded).

But there are many other treats for Ghibli lovers such as a giant catbus you can enter, or small shops, or numerous nods to the movies. And the Oscar for the Boy and Heron is on display, too!

You can pop into a local cafe for food – it pretends to be Italian, just like in some the movies (just look at this panini with pasta as a filling or a ciabatta with baked apple).

3. Say hi to Totoro at Dondoko Forest

Dondoko forest is the magical forest, where you can find the Satsuki and Mai’s house from the My neighbour Totoro movie (it’s a traditional Japanese house you can explore), a traditional Japanese garden, and a tram!

But the very heart of it is a giant Totoro figure sitting on the top of the hill! Kids can even climb inside the Totoro figure.

The Japanese garden around the Dondoko forest of Totoro is such a gem, too, with white herons strolling in the pond and sakura blooming everywhere,

4. Ride a catbus

The catbus is one of the most known characters of My neighbour Totoro, and here in the park it can give you a ride from Dondoko forest to Mononoke village or back! The catbus is a cat-buggy to be precise: you must buy a ticket for a time slot, and photography is prohibited during a ride.

5. Grill mochi at Mononoke village

It’s probably the smallest part of the theme park, and it’s based on Princess Mononoke, with animal guardians just on the outskirts of the ‘village’.

Nevertheless, don’t skip it, as you can have a very special experience here. You can prepare your own grilled mochi—rice dough—stick here and add some sauce to your taste (there are a few options to choose from, including soy sauce and a Napoli tomato one). In total, it takes about 10 minutes.

6. Dine at Valley of Witches

The Valley of Witches is the biggest part of Ghibli Park — and it opened just shortly before our visit, on March 16th, 2024!

It was inspired by a few of Ghibli’s most iconic movies – mainly by Kiki’s Delivery Service and Howl’s Moving Castle, and has a few extra attractions for kids like two merry-go-rounds. There are also a few locations here where you can grab some amazing unique food – scroll below!

You can visit the authentic Gutiokipanja bakery where Kiki from Kiki’s delivery service worked – we went there for some delicious sausage rolls. Alternatively, you have a Cat’s paw dog: it’s basically a sausage in a bun shaped as a cat paw. Those are sold at Hot Tin Roof hot dog stand!

Finally, The Flying Oven restaurant serves both desserts and savoury food. Sadly, the eye-shaped pannacotta was out of stock already, so I went for an Eyeball soda float with some other delicacies.

7. Visit Howl’s castle

Woohoo, you can fin the iconic Howl’s castle live at Ghibli Park, too! You unfortunately cannot take photos there but me, it’s exactly as it was in the movie, with every detail of the rooms done meticulously: come to explore two floors of it and a small balcony (you can see a view from it below).

You can visit the castle and a few other attractions only with Premium pass tickets. Also have a glance at the castle every now and then while you’re in the valley of Witches: it starts moving from time to time!

Where to stay in Nagoya:

When we were looking into hotels in Nagoya, I almost immediately fell for TIAD (TIAD stands for Tomorrow Is Another Day).

It’s a brand new hotel overlooking Hisaya Odori Park and is about 10 minutes away from the Mirai TV tower, one of the main highlights of Nagoya. It’s very stylish and combines Japanese and Western vibes. The hotel is also a home to a very nice restaurant called ‘A table for tomorrow’.

Breakfast selection was fantastic, and kids got tableware decorated with Totoro!

The downside is that the staff struggles a bit with English (but to be honest, that’s a norm for Japan aside from big hotels in Tokyo—actually, we’re used to this lack of communication from our previous trips, and that’s why I started learning Japanese — now I can at least ask directions and order food myself ), and sadly for George, the pool is open only for 16+.

Pictures of the floating world