Japan's city hopes to raise $19 mn to preserve forest that inspired Hayao Miyazaki's classic 'My Neighbor Totoro'

LOS ANGELES, A nine-acre patch of forest that inspired legendary Japanese director Hayao Miyazaki's animated classic "My Neighbor Totoro" is part of a conservation effort by a Japanese city. The city of Tokorozawa, located about 20 miles northwest of Tokyo in Japan, hopes to raise 2.6 billion yen (USD 19 million) to purchase the pristine forest that inspired Miyazaki's hand-drawn animation.

The woodland is locally known as the 'Totoro Forest' and is home to about 7,000 aged oak trees. The city plans to set the patch aside as a nature preserve for local residents and anime fans, The Hollywood Reporter said quoting a report from Tokyo's Japan Times newsapaper.

"The area is one of the places where director Miyazaki developed his ideas for Totoro after strolling there," a local official told Japan Times newspaper.


The 1988 film revolved around a professor's two young daughters and their adventures with a cuddly but enigmatic forest spirit named Totoro.

Studio Ghibli, home to Miyazaki's films, is also helping t25, 000 to the city's effort will be gifted with prints of Totoro background artwork from Ghibli.

Miyazaki, a legendary animator-director in Japan, is known for his work in "Princess Mononoke" and 2001 Oscar-winner "Spirited Away". His most recent feature film was "The Wind Rises" in 2013.

The 81-year-old animator is currently working on his final feature "How Do You Live", an anime adaptation of the 1937 Japanese novel of the same name.