Check out the real locations in Ghibli's famous animated films

Sayama Hills – My Neighbor Totoro (1988)

About an hour’s drive from Tokyo, the lush green landscape of Sayama served as the inspiration for one of Hayao Miyazaki’s most beloved films. Sayama Hills is a woodland park located in Saitama Prefecture, and it was the setting for the idyllic scenes in “My Neighbor Totoro.”

Sayama Hill is a natural hill with a lot of farmland. This area is in danger of being destroyed, so the Totoro Hometown Association has called for forest conservation funds, environmental protection actions from the public to show the relationship between humans and nature. That is the message that Studio Ghibli always tries to convey in their films.

The idyllic countryside setting in the film mirrors the real-life setting, with a dedicated nature trail called the Totoro Forest. Head to Sayama Hills for a view of the Japanese countryside, Japanese tea, and local hospitality.

Gotland Island, Sweden – "Kiki the Little Witch" (1989)

“Kiki the Witch” is a particularly important film for Studio Ghibli in general and for director Miyazaki in particular because it had to temporarily move away from the familiar traditional Japanese cultural motif to depict a modern European lifestyle.

Audiences will remember the image of cute bakeries and many bustling, bustling streets. The architecture was drawn after director Hayao Miyazaki and his colleagues visited the capital Stockholm and the city of Visby on the Swedish island of Gotland. This also aims to stay true to the original elements of Kiki, the novel of the same name by writer Eiko Kadono, set in a fictional city in the Nordic region.

Gotland, Sweden's largest and most beautiful island, is located in the center of the Baltic Sea, so this island once held an important position in the Nordic trade network in the Middle Ages. Visby, the ancient city of Gotland, is over a thousand years old, with its beautiful natural scenery, often likened to the intact fairy world of Northern Europe.

Yakushima Island – Movie "Princess Mononoke" (1997)

This is a famous Japanese animated film, one of the representative works of Ghibli, depicting the war between humanity and majestic nature. The setting of the film is said to be inspired by the vast forests on the island of Yakushima.

Yakushima is a subtropical monsoon archipelago located off the southernmost tip of Japan. The cedar trees that grow all over the island are considered the symbol of Yakushima. Walking under the canopy of these ancient trees on this island will make you feel like you are entering a magical mountain forest.

Dogo Onsen – Spirited Away (2001)

Public baths are a long-standing tradition in Japan. The bathhouse for special guests in Spirited Away was inspired by Dogo Onsen, a 19th-century building in Matsuyama.

Located in the east of Matsuyama, Dogo Onsen is one of the oldest and most famous hot spring resorts in Japan. The elaborate interior and exterior of Dogo Onsen were featured in the film. Stepping inside the building, you will see a maze of long tatami mat verandas, many stairs and different paths. This three-story wooden bathhouse is mentioned in many legends and myths.

Phuong Mai is a reporter for Travellive Magazine in Hanoi.

Phuong Mai