Your favorite Ghibli worlds are real—and this doc will ruin your travel budget forever.
Would you like to embark on a journey to discover new attractions in Miyazaki's works? By setting a fictional city and depicting the vivid lives of the people who live there, it is as if the city really exists.― Director Hayao Miyazaki's landscapes have this power. Tsuruta Mayu visiting the towns and places that inspired the setting images of Hayao Miyazaki's works and exploring their charms. Japan as Depicted by Miyazaki takes you to old Japan in search of images of My Neighbor Totoro, Spirited Away, and Ponyo on the Cliff
Production
Stunning location shoots matching animation to reality.
Direction
Satou's patient, reverent approach lets places breathe.
Director
Toshikazu Satou
Trivia, insights & behind the scenes
The documentary crew spent three years securing access to private homes and hidden shrines that Miyazaki himself had never officially visited.
The 'fictional city' concept revolutionized Japanese tourism—towns now actively compete to be 'discovered' as unofficial Ghibli locations, sometimes retrofitting their own history to match.
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