Take a Virtual Tour Inside the Studio Ghibli Museum in Japan

Back in February, the Studio Ghibli museum in Mitaka, Japan temporarily shuttered due to the spread of coronavirus. Although the animation studio planned to reopen the museum at the end of April, the closure has been extended in response to requests from the Japanese government and local authorities. To keep the studio door’s open — at least virtually — the museum set up a YouTube channel that allows fans to take a look inside the museum while it’s closed.

The elusive Ghibli Museum normally doesn’t allow visitors to take photos or videos once they’re inside, making the videos a rare opportunity for fans to go inside the museum from their own homes. One video features the building’s main entrance, which is decorated with My Neighbor Totoro-themed stained glass doors. Another takes viewers around the permanent exhibition room. The room is where “the movie is born,” the museum stated, and is filled with props and artwork from the popular anime productions.

Elsewhere, a video focuses on the Space of Wonder room, which is covered in a fresco painting with a smiling sun in the center. Trees stretch up towards the sky, revealing Kiki on a broom and Nausicaä on her jet glider. The latest video brings viewers to the Straw Hat cafe, decorated in the style of Howl’s Moving Castle.

Check out the first video from the ongoing series above and view the rest on the museum’s YouTube channel.

In case you missed it, Studio Ghibli released a dozen free, downloadable wallpapers for video calls.