Studio Ghibli · 2001 · a bathhouse made of drawers
It is drawn, so nothing was filmed. Kamaji’s boiler room is a wall of small drawers, and sources say a real wall of them stands in a Tokyo stationer’s shop. Pull a drawer to see each place tied to the film and how its source puts it.
Pull the drawer
Each label says how strongly a source ties the place to the film, in the source’s own register. Some are Ghibli’s words as a guide reports them. One is a denial.
0 of 9 drawers pulled
Nine drawers are shut. Pull one.
Nothing pulled yet.
The drawers are in the order of the numbers: stationer, hot spring, painted room, museum bathhouse, eating streets, three inns, and the denial.
Matsuyama, Ehime
The operator’s official page for the bathhouse: baths, opening hours, private rooms and a three-bathhouse ticket. Check it for current times before you go. Pictured: the Honkan at dusk, 2014.
See the bathhouseShima Onsen, Gunma
The inn’s oldest building, a two-storey wooden house at Shima Onsen. The official page says service is self-service and meals are bento-style. Ghibli has said claims that it is the film’s model do not appear correct; it is a lookalike. Pictured: inside, 2008.
Check roomsOne bathhouse, five parts
Sources do not give the bathhouse one address. Read it from the roof down: each floor takes its part from a different place, as the sources word it.
A tourism guide says Dogo Onsen is said to be the model for the spirit bathhouse in Spirited Away, and that, unlike the film’s, nothing about it is obviously strange.
A travel guide says the 1929 bathhouse’s temple-style front stands behind the bathhouse entrance in the film, and that Miyazaki drew the museum’s mascot.
Metalocus says the film’s bathhouse interior is based on Jippo-no-Ma, one of the rooms along the Hyakudan Kaidan at Meguro Gajoen.
A family travel guide says the wall of small drawers in the Takei Sanshodo stationery shop is said to have influenced Kamaji’s boiler room.
Time Out reports that Miyazaki did not model the unmanned food stall on one site, and drew on the eateries and atmosphere of Tokyo’s Yurakucho and Shinbashi districts.
Sources agree on one thing: nobody names a single building.
Close the wall
Kodakara-yu and the stationer share one museum park in Koganei. Dogo Onsen, Meguro Gajoen, Sekizenkan, Kanaguya and Notoya are open to visit, and Jiufen is a town you can walk. The eating streets of Yurakucho and the stationer are named without a pin: no single address is claimed.
7 places you can visit in Tokyo, elsewhere in Japan and Taiwan, plus two more named without a pin.
Pins mark public places; private homes are named but not pinned.
Site reference · Public access · Not an exact scene or camera position; not a visitor route. A 1929 bathhouse moved into a museum park. One guide lists hours of 9:30 to 17:30 from April to September, 9:30 to 16:30 from October to March, closed Mondays; check the museum’s own site before you go.
Building reference · Public access · Not an exact scene or camera position; not a visitor route. A hotel and banquet complex beside the Meguro River. The staircase and painted rooms are inside; ask at the hotel about seeing them.
Tokyo · Edo-Tokyo Open Air Architectural Museum, Koganei Park, Koganei
A family travel guide says Kodakara-yu is widely recognised as the inspiration for the bathhouse in Spirited Away.
A 1929 bathhouse moved into a museum park. One guide lists hours of 9:30 to 17:30 from April to September, 9:30 to 16:30 from October to March, closed Mondays; check the museum’s own site before you go.
Tokyo · Shimomeguro 1-chome, Meguro, Tokyo
Metalocus says the film’s bathhouse interior is based on Jippo-no-Ma, one of the rooms along the Hyakudan Kaidan at Meguro Gajoen.
A hotel and banquet complex beside the Meguro River. The staircase and painted rooms are inside; ask at the hotel about seeing them.
Stay
A hot-spring inn that Ghibli says is a lookalike, not the model.
Shima Onsen, Gunma
The inn’s oldest building, a two-storey wooden house at Shima Onsen. The official page says service is self-service and meals are bento-style. Ghibli has said claims that it is the film’s model do not appear correct; it is a lookalike. Pictured: inside, 2008.
Check roomsGo there
The bathhouse’s official page and walking tours in Tokyo and Matsuyama.
Matsuyama, Ehime
The operator’s official page for the bathhouse: baths, opening hours, private rooms and a three-bathhouse ticket. Check it for current times before you go. Pictured: the Honkan at dusk, 2014.
See the bathhouseTokyo
Live marketplace results for Ghibli-themed tours from Tokyo. Check each route to see whether it takes in the museum park with Kodakara-yu.
Live marketplace results · itineraries change
Compare toursMatsuyama, Ehime
Live marketplace results for walks and day trips in Matsuyama, the city around Dogo Onsen. Check each route.
Live marketplace results · itineraries change
Compare toursWhat’s on
Nothing dated for the film is listed at these places now.
No current dated events are listed. Check providers for the latest programme.
Dates, prices, rooms and stock change: confirm with the provider before you travel or buy. A stay or tour is described as a filming location only where the card says so.
Every place and moment behind this page, with sources.
9 of 9 places · 9 of 9 stories
Edo-Tokyo Open Air Architectural Museum, Koganei Park, Koganei
A temple-style bathhouse front, built in 1929, stands behind the bathhouse entrance in the film.
Edo-Tokyo Open Air Architectural Museum, Koganei Park, Koganei
A wall of small drawers in a Tokyo stationer’s shop is said to have influenced Kamaji’s boiler room.
Dogoyunomachi, Matsuyama, Ehime
The Honkan is said to be the model for the spirit bathhouse, and Miyazaki is reported to have said it is in there.
Shimomeguro 1-chome, Meguro, Tokyo
The bathhouse interior is based on one painted room on the Hyakudan Kaidan.
Under the railway arches between Yurakucho and Shinbashi stations, Tokyo
The unmanned food stall draws on the eateries and atmosphere of Yurakucho and Shinbashi.
Shima Onsen, Nakanojo, Gunma
The inn told Ghibli it might be the model; Ghibli wrote that such claims did not appear to be correct.
Shibu Onsen, Yamanouchi, Nagano
Miyazaki showed animators photos of real buildings, Kanaguya among them, as a style reference.
Ginzan Onsen, Obanazawa, Yamagata
Inns in Ginzan made the same claim as others; Ghibli’s statement covers them as a group.
Jiufen, New Taipei City
Guidebooks claim the town as a model; Miyazaki has denied it.
Places to stay
A notable hotel in Tokyo.
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A notable hotel in Tokyo.
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A notable hotel in Tokyo.
Tokyo · Source · Check dates on Expedia (Ad / affiliate)
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Links go to each venue’s or organiser’s own site. Check dates, access and availability there before you go.
Every place in Spirited Away leads somewhere else.
