20050409-20050412 Japan : Satsuki and Mei's House


All the digital photos were taken with Canon EOS 20D with 17-40 F4 L USM lens, 3504 x 2336 Fine Mode, scaled down to 841 x 561 for internet access, and 280 x 186 for thumbnails.
Please click on the thumbnail images to see the larger version.
 
Satsuki and Mei's House

Inside the Aichi Expo 2005, the organizer has reserved a pavillon site in the forest of the Nagakute site for the
world famous anime director Miyazaki Hayao to build the 1:1 replica of the Kusakabe residence, a house of the 1950's
in which the lead characters of the 1988 movie My Neighbor Totoro (Tonari no Totoro), Satsuki and Mei, lived.

They built the house exactly the same as the one in the movie. Even all the furnitures and little things such as
the clothes in the drawers inside the house are the same as the movie. It's too bad that no photo is allowed inside
Due to maintenance and security reason, only 800 people are allowed to visit the house everyday. The demands of the
admission ticket is so great that on 20050301, Lawson Tickets, Japan's biggest ticket selling agent, had their phone
and web ticketing network freezed up within the first minute of operation. The admission ticket was supposed to be
free of charge, but was sold in auction web sites as high as 6000 yen.
Front entrance of the Kusakabe residence Main door Note the "to" character in the corner tiles
1F is the study, 2F is where Mei catched her "prize" The study Looking up to 2F from the open space in front of the study
The study The study Mei's painting equipment placed outside the study
The rooms located besides the study The rooms located besides the study The hole that the middle Totoro and small Totoro hide
The hole that the middle Totoro and small Totoro hide The living room, kitchen and the water pump The water pump
The water pump The living room The kitchen
The kitchen, with the bath at the back The kitchen, with the bath at the back Satsuki and Mei's House
Satsuki and Mei's House Staff taking photos for the visitors The famous bus stop