Ghibli Park, a large theme park dedicated entirely to the works of Japanese animation giants Studio Ghibli, opened late last year. And it didn’t take long for people to start going crazy with some of the statues found in the park, prompting calls from local authorities to please stop.
As CNN reportLast week, the governor of Aichi Prefecture (where the park is located), Hideaki Ōmura, held a press conference and discussed the issue of adults taking “salacious” photos with attractions. Apparently, grown men have not only taken inappropriate pictures with statues of Ghibli characters, but they have also shared them on social media, prompting reactions that don’t match the austere family mood Ōmura would have expected.
“Frankly, posting photos like this on social media is very inappropriate,” Ōmura said. “People from adults to children go to Ghibli Park to immerse themselves in the Ghibli world and have fun. Obviously, this action worried a lot of people,” he added, saying that local authorities have since told park staff that “they must firmly stop such actions as soon as they are detected and confirmed.”
“For those who come to the park to do something like this, I would much prefer them not to come at all. Of course, we need to be tougher on this type of behavior. This is basically criminal damage.”
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You might think this reaction is a a bit much, but Japanese staff and authorities don’t usually bother about taking photos in places where photos shouldn’t be taken. I’ve had staff at the Tokyo Game Show who were stricter on camera handling than security at famous museums, and I felt like the star of one oceans Movie the day I managed to get a picture of my son playing on the plush catbus at the Ghibli Muesum in Tokyo. They’re usually very strict, so perhaps part of Ōmura’s frustration stems from the fact that he expects security at these exhibits to be tighter than they are.
Ghibli Park opened last year after numerous delays, but isn’t quite ready yet; while it sells tickets, and there are three areas to explore (including the home of totoro), two more spaces (including a Mononoke-theme forest) are still under construction and should only be completed in a year or two.
