My Neighbor Totoro is one of the most iconic Japanese movies of all time.
Even if you haven’t seen the movie,
you’ve probably seen Totoro pictures around the internet,
or in cameo appearances in other media, like Toy Story 3.
He’s a beloved character basically treated like a giant teddy bear
and apparently I’m only person who thinks he’s terrifying.
Well, there’s one other person.
And now in Japan you can visit a replica of the same house from the movie,
where the children Mei and Satsuki lived.
It’s inside in the Expo 2005 Aichi Commemorative Park,
the location of the 2005 World’s fair.
The fair was held for 185 days and had 121 countries participate!
Did you know there are World Fairs? Because I didn’t until I came here!
The next one is Milan in 2015, by the way.
Mei and Satsuki’s house is on the far side of the park.
The park is free to enter, but visiting the house costs 500yen, about $5.
They have pamphlets in English but the tour is in Japanese.
You’ll have 15 minutes inside the house where photography is prohibited,
and then 15 minutes outside the house where you’re free to shoot or film.
Unfortunately, there’s no Totoro in sight, but to make things interesting, I took pictures so you
can see the comparison between them and the house from the movie.
Inside the house you’re allowed to go through drawers and open everything, although you
can’t go up onto the second floor. It’s quite a small house, but if you want a glimpse
of what older houses from 1961 Japan may have looked like, you might find it worth the money.
They only had a squat toilet, by the way! The kitchen floor was ground level, as opposed
to raised like the rest of the house, and was concrete.
And the bathroom had the two tile tubs just like in the movie!
The items in the drawers all seemed to be truly vintage.
They did have an old tin container that reminded me of Grave of the Fireflies, and immediately
ruined my immersion in the magical Totoro world.
All in all, I actually enjoyed other parts of the park more.
The expo’s theme was “Nature’s Wisdom” and they had an actual forest school,
like literally a school to learn about the forest, which was really cool.
I took a video there, so I’ll show that some other time!
And they had a waterpark and an ice rink, as well as a large ferris wheel.
The park seems like it would be really beautiful in the springtime,
and I want to go back with Jun next year.
It seems like it’s not a very well-known spot for foreigners visiting
Nagoya, so if you’re in the area, think about checking it out!
It’s emptier than it was during the Expo,
and it does feel a little bittersweet to have missed something
that seems to have been so incredible, but it’s still a beautiful park and worth visiting!