Mitaka Forest Ghibli Museum

Ghibli Museum (三鷹の森ジブリ美術館 Mitaka no Mori Jiburi Bijutsukan^?, Mitaka Forest Ghibli Museum) is a museum featuring the Japanese anime work of Studio Ghibli, and is located in Inokashira Park in Mitaka, a western suburb of Tokyo, Japan.

The museum is a fine arts museum, but does not take the concept of a usual fine arts museum. With many features that are child-oriented and a sprawling and occasionally mazelike interior, the museum is a playfully created place. Centered around the motto appearing on the museum's website "Let's become lost children together" (迷子になろうよ、いっしょに Maigo ni narō yo, isshoni^?), or "let's lose our way together" as it is translated in the English leaflet. It has no set path or order of viewing. While the museum brochure contains a variety of languages, the signs within the museum are in Japanese only.

Hayao Miyazaki wanted to create a museum that was interesting and relaxing to the soul. His goal was to create a museum “that makes you feel more enriched when you leave than when you entered!”^[1]

Planning for the museum began in 1998. Construction started in March 2000, and the museum officially opened October 1, 2001.^[2]

Hayao Miyazaki designed the museum himself, using drawn storyboards similar to the ones he makes for his films. The design was influenced by European architecture, such as the hilltop village of Calcata in Italy. Miyazaki's aim was to make the building itself part of the exhibit.^[3]