Released in 2001, the film Spirited Away, directed by Miyazaki Hayao, is still one of Studio Ghibli’s most popular animated films to this day.
Besides the meaningful content and unique characters, the poetic scenes in “Land of Souls” are also a point that makes the audience constantly whisper while watching the movie. However, few people know that some of the scenes in the movie turned out to be inspired by real places in Japan.
1. Shima Onsen Bath (Sekizenkan)
In the movie, the image of the bathroom is an extremely familiar image. With its signature red bridge and arrangement of rooms, the Shima Onsen bathhouse, also known as the Sekizenkan, is known as the inspiration for director Miyazaki Hayao to create this setting. According to the staff of Shima Onsen, Hayao Miyazaki was also here before making “Spirited Away“.
The familiar red bridge in the movie
2. Dogo Onsen Bathhouse
Besides Shima Onsen, the Dogo Onsen bath house located in Ehime is also known as the inspiration for the author to build the bathhouse scene in the movie.
It is known that Dogo Onsen is a bathhouse with a history of more than 1000 years, it is one of the oldest hot spring resorts in Japan. The multi-storey main building closely resembles the bathhouse in Spirited Away. The only difference from the movie version is the red bridge taken from the above Shima Onsen.
The front of the bathhouse in the movie inspired by Dogo Onsen
3. Ga Shimonada
Although there isn’t really a station in the middle of the ocean in Japan like in “Land of Souls”, fans of this movie quickly found a location that closely resembles the scene in the movie.
Many people have theorized that the station featured in the movie was actually inspired by Shimonada Station located in Ehime Prefecture. This is a simple monorail station located near the sea. In particular, this station is also located quite close to Dogo Onsen, so the hypothesis given is quite reasonable.
The image in the movie matches the station
In the rainy season, the flooded tracks look exactly like the scene from the movie
4. Edo-Tokyo Open Air Architectural Museum
Edo-Tokyo Open Air Architectural Museum is home to many buildings built between the mid-17th and mid-19th centuries. Director Miyazaki has visited the area countless times in search of inspiration for his projects. movie.
In particular, the stationery store formerly called Takei Sanshodo with stacked wooden drawers is considered the inspiration for the context of the boiler room where the old man Kamaji worked in “Spirited Land”. “.
Stationery Store Takei Sanshodo
Source: Japan Tour
