Ghibli Museum: A Global Attraction

Ghibli Museum: A Global Attraction

Section 1: Ghibli Museum Overview

Ghibli Museum Description & Significance

The museum is located in Mitaka city of the bigger Tokyo metropolis in Japan. Japan is located in Eastern Asia, the northern hemisphere. It is inland, just close to Tokyo Bay. The museum’s topography has urban landscapes whose proximity to the bay led to a greater appeal to the location of the museum( Museo d’Arte Ghibli,n.d).

Figure 1:The Ghibli Museum ,Source Tabot(200)

Attraction Geography & Climate

Ghibli Museum is located in the greater Tokyo metropolitan. Specific threats that have been associated with this particular locality are flooding and increased pressures like river and sea floods, as well as the failure of sea floods. Others are the risks of earthquakes in the city of Tokyo, which can also potentially affect those visiting the locality( Aktas et al.,2021). The highest temperature in Mitak, which houses the museum, is  16 °C, the lowest temperature is 12 °C, mean temperature is 14°C. Precicipitation is 15.9mm, humidity is at 57%, the Dew point is 6°C, the wind speed is 12km/h, pressure is 1018 mbar, and the visibility is 9km. Other relevant data are the hottest Month: August (28 °C avg); the coldest Monthis January (7 °C avg); the wettest Month is June (57.5 mm avg); the windiest Month    April (17 km/h avg)Annual precip.365.0 mm (per year)( Timeanddate ,n.d).

Attraction Geography & Climate

Classification & Ownership of Ghibli Museum 

Serving as a dedicated space for preserving and celebrating Japanese Animation heritage, the Ghibli Museum could be classified as a cultural attraction (Goelder & Ritchie, 2013). The Ghibli Museum was built by Studio Ghibli; Hayao is the director of the studio. It is managed by the Mitaka city government. The current CEO is Kiyofumi Nakajima(Blair,2017).

Key Features of the Ghibli Museum 

The Ghibli Museum offers an experience of Ghibli art tales and characters in its studio. There are interactive exhibits, hands-on activities, and short films based on Japanese traditions. In particular, it features original artworks and artifacts from Spirited Away” and “My Neighbor Totoro movies are found in this museum. In addition, the museum’s architecture is itself an immersive experience for the visitors as designed by the founder and director Hayao Miyazaki(Museo d’Arte Ghibli,n.d).

Transportation Systems to Access and Navigate Ghibli Museum  (Including Accessibility Info)

The museum is located in Mitaka. It can be accessed from Mitaka station or from the Shinjuku station. Various buses can be used to acess the location at the cost of 210 yen for one way and 320 yen for a round trip, for which children pay half price. There are also taxis at the cost of 750 yen one way. One can walk to the station a distance of 20 minutes from the Mitaka or Kichijoji stations, passing through the Inokashira Park (Japan Guide. com,n.d).

Tourism & Tourists at Ghibli Museum   

This museum falls within the classification of cultural tourism since it mainly showcases the cultural aspects of Japanese animations. In particular, other authors refer to it as anime tourism (Denison,2010; McWilliams/Types of Tourism, 2023).  The Ghibli Museum, due to its unique immersive nature, would appeal to allocentric visitors due to its feature of authentic and novel experiences. In addition, there is the possibility that it would attract mass tourists and explorers who are curious about cultural animation, which sets it apart from conventional tourist places(McWilliams/Ologies of Tourism, 2023; Plog, 1974).

Ghibli Museum   Key Statistics

The best-known movie associated with the Ghibli Museum, Sen to Chihiro no Kamikakushi, won several awards, including Golden Bear at the 2002 Berlin International Film Festival and the 2003 Academy Award for Best Animated Feature. Later films included Hauru no ugoku shiro (2004; Howl’s Moving Castle), Gake no ue no Ponyo (2008; Ponyo), Kaze tachinu (2013; The Wind Rises), and Kaguyahime no monogatari (2013; The Tale of the Princess Kaguya) (Bauer, 2023)The museum has 650,000 visitors annually since its inception in 2001 (INEWS,2023), with 2400 customers only admitted every day(INEWS,2023). It had only 100 business days in 2022 and the number of visitors to the locality dropped to about 60,000, with the expected revenue dropping from 

Figure 2 Hall of Ghibli MUseum source( INEWS),2023

660 million yen  to 150 million yen( INEWS,2023 para 6-7).The museum had to pull about 350 million yen(2.56 million US dollars) from its reserve due to the pandemic( TAKANOBU,2022 pg1).

Section 2: Impact, Strengths & Weaknesses of  Ghibli Museum   

Strengths & Resources of Name of Attraction & Its Surrounding Destination

The museum is located in the areas where it benefits from the infrastructure of the Tokyo locality for accessibility of its visitors (INEWS,2022). It is also a cultural hub that attracts tourists to experience the Japanese animated culture. It also serves as an educational resource and preserves the heritage of the Japanese nation. As such, one can appreciate the culture of the Japanese (TAKANOBU,2022 pg1).

Weaknesses & Barriers of Name of Attraction & Its Surrounding Destination

The weakness of this locality is that it is prone to environmental and climatic issues like floods. Further there can also be increased pressure on the infrastructure, leading to congestion. Another is the potential to increase the burden of sustainability on the locality as such increases carbon footprint as the visitors may contribute to increasing waste production in this locality(Brimblecombe et al.,2020).

Section 3: Critiques & Reviews of Ghibli Museum  OR Major-Related Data Associated With OR COVID-19 Related Data Associated With Ghibli Museum /HostDestination

Like in other areas of tourism and even greater economy, COVID-19 had a significant effect on the operation of the Ghibli Museum. In particular, it led to the plummuring of the number of visitors to 86,000 in the 2020/ 2021 fiscal year. Further, the number of visitors a day dropped to 1700 a day, which was 70% of the period before COVID-19. As such, this led to great effects on the revenue of the museum(INEWS,2023).

Section 4: Personal Perspectives/Review/Final Thoughts on Ghibli Museum 

Since I have yet to actually visit the Ghibli Museum, I feel that this is still a great place to visit going into the future. I look forward to enjoying the great animated depiction of the Japanese historical heritage. My major worry about this locality is the potential of floods as captured on the sources. Despite this, I will include this in my places to visit list.

References

Aktas, Y. D., Fouseki, K., Newton, D., Camacho, K. S. M., Nandi, S., Koukou, T., … & Lemieux, D. J. (2021). Assessing the Impact of Climate Change on Urban Cultural Heritage. MDPI.

Bauer, P. (2023, September 21). Studio Ghibli. Encyclopedia Britannica. https://www.britannica.com/topic/Studio-Ghibli

Blair, G. J. (2017, November 28). Studio Ghibli Appoints New CEO as it Gears up for Final Hayao Miyazaki Film. The Hollywood Reporter. https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/general-news/studio-ghibli-appoints-new-ceo-as-it-gears-up-final-hayao-miyazaki-film-1062391/

Brimblecombe, P., Hayashi, M., & Futagami, Y. (2020). Mapping climate change, natural hazards and Tokyo’s built heritage. Atmosphere, 11(7), 680. 

Denison, R. (2010, December). Anime tourism: discursive construction and reception of the Studio Ghibli Art Museum. In Japan Forum (Vol. 22, No. 3-4, pp. 545-563). Taylor & Francis Group.

Goeldner, C.R., & Ritchie, J.R. (2013). Tourism Principles, Practices, Philosophies (12th ed.). NJ: Wiley & Sons. Retrieved on November 13, 2023.

INEWS(2023) The Ghibli Museum, which is facing a loss, launches crowdfunding and completes the target amount within 24 hours https://inf.news/en/world/b745dcf7a40c16a48552b0606c8f6b23.html on November 13, 2023

Japan Guide.com(n.d)Ghibli Museum accessed from https://www.japan-guide.com/e/e3041.html on November 13, 2023

McWilliams, C. (2021). Ologies of Tourism Lesson. Retrieved from: Canvas Course on November 13, 2023

McWilliams, C. (2021). Types of Tourism Lesson. Retrieved from: Canvas Course on November 13, 2023

Museo d’Arte Ghibli(n.d)Ghibli Museum Mitaka accessed from https://www.ghibli-museum.jp/en/ on November 13, 2023

Plog, S. C. (1974). Why destination areas rise and fall in popularity. Cornell Hotel and Restaurant Administration Quarterly, 14 (4), 55–58. doi:10.1177/001088047401400409. Retrieved November 13, 2023.

TAKANOBU A(2022) Japan’s Ghibli Museum threatened by COVID-era shortfall in reserve acessed from https://asia.nikkei.com/Business/Media-Entertainment/Japan-s-Ghibli-Museum-threatened-by-COVID-era-shortfall-in-reserve on November 13, 2023

Talbot, M. (2005). The auteur of anime. New Yorker, 17. https://apjjf.org/-Margaret-Talbot/1900/article.pdf

Timeanddate (n.d) Annual Weather Averages Near Mitaka-shi accessed from https://www.timeanddate.com/weather/@1856942/climate on November 13, 2023