Fourteen Days in Japan · Tuesday, March 18th, 2008
Day 3: Satsuki and Mei's Totoro House
Want to see your children's eyes pop? Take them to see Satsuki and Mei's House, a life-size recreation of the house from internationally acclaimed Japanese director and animator Hayao Miyazaki's famous 1988 animated film Tonari no Totoro (My Neighbor Totoro). The house was a sell-out attraction when it debuted in 2005 as part of the World Exposition, and it remains a popular attraction of the Expo Memorial Park.
The theme of Expo 2005 was “Nature's Wisdom”, and it boasted many “green” features, from the lush parklands to high-tech green transportation systems and recycling programs.
The park is about 40 minutes from Nagoya. One of the world's first maglev trains, the Linimo, was built to reach the Expo site and the surrounding suburbs, and it has become a major part of the area's infrastructure. It's an attraction in its own right, and still the best way to get to the park.
At the center of the park is the Totoro house, a replica of the Kusakabe family's typical Japanese-style home from the Studio Ghibli film. The house is not just a recreated film set, but a glimpse into Japanese home life in the mid to late 1950s.
Visitors are free to explore the house, furnished to faithfully reproduce the movie, complete with a book-lined study, a classic living room and an old fire-heated bathtub. In front of the house, there's even a replica of the famous bus stop featured in the film.
After the enchanting visit to Totoro's house, for which Yasuko had made reservations months ahead, we strolled back through the beautiful Japanese gardens and stopped for a cup of tea at the tea house.