Aichi Prefecture is slowly trying to get more and more tourists by setting up more and more attractions. They have recently teamed up with Studio Ghibli to open a theme park in the prefecture’s 200-hectare Expo Park. And now, they have released a new concept art for this upcoming attraction:

The new concept art shows off the park’s planned “19th century science fantasy style”. Several Ghibli films feature this style, most especially Howl’s Moving Castle. The Ghibli Park will also recreate the antique shop from Whisper of the Heart.

They previously planned it to open by 2020, right in time for the Tokyo Summer Olympics. However, it seems that they pushed it back, as they are now planning it to open by 2022.

Ghibli co-founder, Toshio Suzuki, as well as Aichi governor, Hideaki Oomura, previously announced the theme park during their conference in Nagoya. Both the Aichi Prefectural Government and Ghibli will be co-funding the operations. The prefecture also aims to attract both foreign and local tourists with Ghibli Park.

Expo Park also features something that Ghibli built back in 2005 for the World Expo. It’s an actual replica of Satsuki and Mei’s House from My Neighbor Totoro. In fact, Ghibli’s been running the house since the World Expo, and even held a couple of exhibitions inside. The park aims to recreate Totoro’s forest from the iconic film too!

Ghibli co-founder Hayao Miyazaki is known for his passion about nature conservation. Because of this, Ghibli aims to use nature-friendly construction methods which won’t cause damage to the park. In other words, they won’t be cutting any trees as much as possible.

Sources: NHK, ChunichiÂ