Movies Japanese city wants to protect the forest that inspired Hayao Miyazaki’s animation masterpiece

Japanese The city of Tokorozawa has launched a crowdfunding campaign to protect a three-and-a-half-hectare forest area known as the “Totoro Forest”. There are more than 7,000 old oaks in the forest.

They told about the campaign The Japan Times and American The Hollywood Reporter.

The forest, described as well-preserved, was inspired by the director of the animated films Hayao Miyazakiaas he prepared his film My neighbor Totoro (1988). According to a Tokorazawa city official interviewed by the Japan Times, Miyazaki used to walk in the woods looking for inspiration.

In the movie the young girls of the family moving to the country get to know the creatures that inhabit the nearby forest, the most famous of which is Totoro, reminiscent of a mix of a giant cat and a bear.

My neighbor Totoro is one of Oscar-winning Hayao Miyazaki’s most popular films and has often been named one of the best animated films of all time.

In Miyazaki’s animations, environmental protection and the abuse of nature are recurring themes.

Tokorozawan the city aims to raise 2.6 billion yen, or about 18 million euros, and buy a strip of forest. The “Totoro Forest” is to be made a nature reserve.

Studio Ghibli, Hayao Miyazaki’s production company, is involved in the campaign: donors of more than 25,000 yen, or about 175 euros, will receive a print My neighbor in Totoro the background painting used.

According to an official from the city of Tokorazawa, who spoke to the Japan Times, the crowdfunding is intended to cover some, but not all, of the costs of buying the forest. The campaign’s focus on forest protection is in itself an important goal.