To deal with these financial setbacks, the city of Mitaka, which hosts the museum, has launched a participatory kitty.
Almost a year after the last confinement, the pandemic continues to do damage. The Ghibli Museum, located in Mitaka, Japan, for example. The small institution was forced to appeal for donations to survive. The establishment, however, brought together without difficulty hundreds of thousands of enthusiasts each year, before the start of the pandemic. Nearly 600,000 fans of the animation studio passed through the doors of this large building located in the western suburbs of Tokyo.
The continuous flow of visitors has dried up with the pandemic. In 2020, due to a first closure ordered by the pandemic, the museum surmounted by a Totoro only welcomed 86,000 faithful. A poor score, compared to its past performance. Since then, the establishment has been slowly climbing the slope, nearly 1,700 visitors per day, or 70% of its pre-pandemic figure. But this is not enough to cover the maintenance and renovation costs of the building. “The sale of tickets to foreign visitors by tourist agencies has still not resumed“, details the Japanese economic daily Nihon Keizai Shimbun Quoted by Courrier International .
The establishment, which contains many custom-made rooms and whose construction was supervised by Hayao Miyazaki himself, still needs 20 million yen, or 140,000 euros to ensure its operation. The town hall of the city of Mitaka, which manages the museum, has launched an appeal for donations, which has not been very fruitful for the moment. While the kitty is due to expire in two days, it has only reached 30% of its goal. What threaten the sustainability of the places, which must celebrate their 22nd anniversary next year.
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