A huge Studio Ghibli exhibit has opened in Tokyo

Hanging in Spirited Away’s bathhouse, cruising on the cat monorail, dabbling in hat-making a la Howl’s Moving Castle. A world straight from the mind of Ghibli’s Hayao Miyazaki might just be a pipedream for now, but the next best thing is a huge exhibition of the Japanese animating house’s memorabilia that’s just opened in Tokyo.

The show’s called “Ghibli Expo: From Nausicaä to its latest film, The Red Turtle” and it runs until September 11, just in time for the animator’s first international co-production release, The Red Turtle, with Michael Dudok de Wit. It’s a celebration of the seminal animating company’s best works, from Princess Mononoke to When Marnie Was There and Porco Rosso.

It’s based of an exhibition that went on display last year for the studio’s 30th anniversary, but it’s been heavily updated with new artwork from the latest film. Toshio Suzuki, an acclaimed producer who’s worked on most of the house’s major films from the start, told Nippon.com that the arrangement of the show was done “in a haphazard way, just like memories arranged in a film goer’s mind”.

The exhibit features huge 3D models of the likes of fan favourite Totoro, as well as replica’s of the Ghibli offices where everything’s brought to life. Over 2,500 pieces are on display.

A major work in the exhibition is a 6-metre long replica of the airship from Castle in the Sky. According to AsiaOne, the museum’s restaurant will also be serving a Studio Ghibli-themed menu. There’s an all-black burger called the Makkuro Kurosuke, inspired by the soot sprites that populate several films, as well as poached egg on toast just like what they eat in Castle in the Sky.

Check it out if you’re anywhere near the Roppongi Hills skyscraper in Japan.