Random Japan

Cara Clegg

Get spirited away in China’s Ghibli-esque tourist complex

Studio Ghibli’s acclaimed film Spirited Away is beloved around the world for its touching story and beautiful animation, and the whimsical setting has a real-life counterpart. Jiufen, a mountainous area of New Taipei City in Taiwan is said to be where creator Hayao Miyazaki drew a lot of his inspiration for the film, and many tourists visit the area to feel like they’re stepping into the magical world of Spirited Away. But it turns out there’s also somewhere similar in China! Check out these photos and videos of the incredible place.


In Sichuan province, the area famed for its pandas and delicious mapo tofu, is a place called Hongyadon situated in the heart of the city of Chongqing at the point where the Yangtze River and Jialing River meet. There you’ll find a tall, towering structure accessed by a bridge that looks just like a Japanese castle. It looks like something copied straight out of a fantasy movie, but it’s actually a traditional style of building from an area steeped in 2,300 years of history.

This particular place was reopened as a commercial and tourist facility in 2006 and has become a centre for shopping and sightseeing, and has recently become more popular after the news that it looked just like Spirited Away started circulating.

750,000 Packages of pasta recalled by Nissin Frozen Foods because some of the products were found to “contain parts of insects believed to be cockroaches”

42.1 Percent of Japanese people who say they want smoking banned in all restaurants, according to a new survey by the health ministry

51.5 Percent of smokers who feel “no particular place should be off-limits” to them

COMING & GOING

• Officials at Buckingham Palace say Prince William will make his first visit to Japan in February. His wife, Catherine, won’t make the trip because she’s expecting the couple’s second child.
• The operator of teen-girl mecca Shibuya 109 announced plans to open its first overseas store. The shop will debut in Hong Kong next fall.
• Meanwhile, officials at Sanrio held a ceremony in China’s Zhejiang Province to celebrate the completion of the first outdoor Hello Kitty-themed park located outside Japan.
• Among the gear carried into space last month by the Hayabusa-2 asteroid probe was a sample-collection device developed with the help of adult students enrolled in a remedial course at a high school in Osaka.

Incidents Of Nose Blowing
To Be Much Higher Next Spring

 Lucky Bags
For The Lucky Few

 Your Fries Are Back
And They're Large

Abe snubs Okinawa’s new anti-base governor

Kyodo

In a veiled attempt to put pressure on Okinawa Gov. Takeshi Onaga, Prime Minister Shinzo Abe did not meet the newly elected anti-base leader during his three-day visit to the capital.

Onaga, who opposes the government’s push to move a contentious U.S. military base further north in his prefecture, defeated Hirokazu Nakaima in a closely watched election in November, after the former governor approved a landfill project needed to move U.S. Marine Corps Air Station Futenma, stirring strong local opposition.

Following up on recent reports, several government sources said Tokyo has also decided to reduce its fiscal 2015 budget for Okinawa, which was initially estimated at ¥379.4 billion.