One of Hayao Miyazaki’s most well known anime is his 1988 masterpiece “My Neighbor Totoro“. Without ruining too much of the story for you, two sisters (Satsuki and Mei) move into an old rural house with their dad, where something special and magical happens. As it turns out, this house was recreated in real life at the 2005 Expo (Aichi Commemorative Park) in Nagoya. Everything in the house looks exactly in the anime, which is really amazing.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9f-uQDHgXdk
Here begins our journey to Satsuki and Mei’s house (took us 30 minutes of walking):
This is the dad’s study room:
This is the support that is about to fall over
This the plant that Totoro’s magic help grow!
Hungry Cactus’ verdict: B
It is unfortunate Satsuki and Mei’s house restricts photography inside the house. Also, there were no life size creations of Totoro or the girls, probably due to legal issues of not being an officially licenced Ghibli attraction. Lastly, Nagoya is pretty far from Kyoto/Osaka/Tokyo, making this attraction only for very serious Totoro fans.
Overall, this is very unique experience for Totoro fans, but not a must see.