Partial delay in opening of Ghibli Park “Valley of the Witches” to March 2024.

Opening of the Valley of the Witches, part of Ghibli Park, delayed

Ghibli Park (Nagakute City, Aichi Prefecture) is scheduled to open in November 2022 with the pre-opening of three areas.

On March 31, Aichi Prefecture announced that the opening of some of the additional areas, which were scheduled to open approximately one year after the preliminary opening, will be delayed to March 2024.

https://www.tokyo-np.co.jp/article/180686

The opening will be delayed in the “Valley of the Witches” area

The project is inspired by European-style spaces in movies such as “The Witch’s Delivery Service” and “Howl’s Moving Castle,” because it takes time to naturally dry the lumber used to make the buildings.

According to Aichi Prefecture, the buildings to be constructed in the area will adopt, as much as possible, lumber and construction methods used in the countries and regions where the movies are set.

Since hardwoods used in European wooden construction are rarely available in the domestic market, they are being cut down and dried from mountain forests.

Is this an effect of the invasion of Ukraine?

At the time of the original plan, there was a prospect of obtaining hardwood lumber, but there is no prospect of obtaining it in the future.

Ahhh…I guess this is the effect of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

I hope they give up soon. (T_T)