Now that I’ve finally finished my England-holiday posts, I’m finally ready to move on to the Japan posts! Let’s hope it doesn’t take another three months for me to write all that I want to say. First things first: GHIBLI.

I found out about this exhibition when I was checking out the events in Huis ten Bosch (if I’m visiting my ex-colleagues, I might as well see the latest things in the park) and promptly got extremely excited. If it weren’t for the fact that I went to Yakushima, this would probably have been the highlight of my trip – that’s how much I love Ghibli. For more evidence of my love of Studio Ghibli, please refer to my 21st birthday party (tbh, I cringed a little when I read through my post while adding a title image but I still love the cake and everything so the only thing I can ask is: please don’t judge me too harshly).

This exhibition is a combination of Suzuki Toshio’s works, from his early years while he was still a child, to his later years at Studio Ghibli, and interactive exhibits featuring replicas of various Ghibli sets.

Suzuki Toshio is a film producer at Studio Ghibli; he produced many works, including Spirited Away, Princess Mononoke, Whisper of the Heart, Tales from Earthsea. He was also the former president of Studio Ghibli and he does some amazing calligraphy.

The first floor of the exhibition was traced his life, from childhood to successful producer career. It was really eyeopening! Sadly, if you don’t understand Japanese, this part might be lost because there weren’t any English or Chinese explanations. I think I saw quite a few tourists just walk through the whole thing.

Most of the exhibition about Suzuki Toshio prohibits you from taking photos – except for this one spot where you can take as many photos as you want.

The calligraphy style is an enlarged version of his actual calligraphy and the words are the catchphrases from various movies.

There’s actually a really lovely video where he demonstrates his calligraphy and talks about how he got into it and his style and everything. It made me appreciate the words here a lot more.

We saw signs for the Ghibli exhibition once we made our way through the second floor and excitedly followed them, only to find…

The Dahlia Exhibition!

Don’t get me wrong, it was beautiful and the flowers smelled amazing, but it was also pretty surprising to see this while walking from part one to part two of the Suzuki Toshio & Ghibli exhibition. I saw a poster later on advertising this as a separate event (no wonder because one of the ‘kingdoms’ in Huis ten Bosch is the ‘kingdom of flowers’), which made me feel a little bad for the people who came specifically to see the flowers. I imagine that they were very confused as they made their way through the first two floors!

After the dahlias, we made our way to the top floor where we found recreations of various sets/scenes from some of the two of the most popular Ghibli movies! Since I went with a friend, we had a lot of fun taking photos – but I’m just going to share the empty sets. I only asked for permission to put photos with her up on Instagram and this blog is definitely not Instagram.

I legit squealed when I saw this! Spirited Away was the first Studio Ghibli movie I watched, which is probably why it’s my favourite.

A close up of the food!

This isn’t just a miniature version of the bathhouse – it actually changes! As night falls and the spotlight on it dims, the windows start lighting up and you can hear the sounds of the bathhouse getting ready to open.

There was also a section where you could get your fortune told by Zeniba or Yubaba. I can’t remember which is which but one is for love and the other is for work. You go in, pull a tooth, and see what number it is. There are cupboards by the side, labelled by number, with your fortune inside.

Of course, there was the famous Totoro bus stop. Luckily, my friend had an umbrella on her!

And you can take a photo with Totoro as well!

I had such a good time at the exhibition and visiting my friends/ex-colleagues as well. I was only here for about half a year, but this was my first job out of university so I remember the people there pretty fondly (even though I had to go back to get help for my mental health). It’s been two years since I left so I was very touched that lots of people made time to meet up and catch up – like at the exhibition!

The exhibition is still going on, but unfortunately due to my slow writing pace it ends on Monday, the 23rd of September. But if you’re in the Sasebo area (or even in Fukuoka, which is only two hours/two and a half hours away by train/bus), try to see if you can drop by. It’s definitely worth a visit if you know Japanese and/or if you just want to pretend you were part of a Ghibli movie.

Link to the official page

Location: Palace Huis ten Bosch @ Huis ten Bosch theme park