*UPDATE MARCH 29TH – My book review for Hayao Miyazaki And The Ghibli Museum (Part 1) is now up !*
*This post was first published on the 17th of November 2020. More information was updated/added on the 14th of February 2021.
As expected, the book was extremely well received upon it’s release on the 16th of January and all copies were quickly sold out, leaving many Ghibli fans, especially those outside of Japan disappointed as they were unable to secure a copy. The publishers have since re-printed the book and it is in stock on Amazon Japan at the time of writing; do secure your copy asap before it is gone once again.*
Fans of Studio Ghibli and Hayao Miyazaki, rejoice ! The famed animation studio of such legendary films like My Neighbor Totoro and Princess Mononoke will be releasing a beautiful 2 volume art book titled Hayao Miyazaki And The Ghibli Museum ( 宮崎駿とジブリ美術館 ) on the 16th of January 2021.
Since its opening 20 years ago in 2001, Hayao Miyazaki has been heavily involved in many of the creative aspects of the museum like planning the architecture designs and decor, creating special animated short films for the Saturn Theater as well as curating the special animation exhibitions.
This 2 volume art book will showcase over 900 color illustrations and sketches that Hayao Miyazaki drew over the 20 years of Ghibli Museum’s operation, and the books will be bilingual with with both Japanese and English captions/text. The 2 volumes are titled :
1) Creating The Ghibli Museum – Imageboards And Sketches ( 174 pages )
2) Creating The Special Exhibitions 2001-2020 ( 424 pages )
The 2 B4 ( 25x35cm ) sized softcover books come housed in a sturdy hardcover slipcase and will retail for 25000yen ( about 238 USD ). It’s certainly not a cheap price tag, but the fairly big print size, high page count and chance to own some pretty exclusive, never before published Hayao Miyazaki illustrations will still be attractive to Ghibli fans. If you want to have a taste of what a publication by Ghibli Museum is like, check out this lovely Museum Catalogue.
Here’s a short makin of video shot by Ghibli staff members, with Hayao Miyazaki himself browsing through the book –
And this is review of the contents of the book by the publisher Iwanami Shoten –
I’ll be sure to post a review of the book set when I get my copy. You can order the book below –
Buy From Amazon.com | Amazon CA | Amazon UK | CDJapan
You might also be interested in these items :
Hayao Miyazaki And The Ghibli Museum Art Book Review Part I
Hayao Miyazaki And The Ghibli Museum Art Book Review Part II
Pipi Longstockings – Miyazaki Hayao Art Book Review
Ghibli Museum Catalogue Book Review
Hayao Miyazaki ( Academy Of Motion Pictures Exhibition ) Art Book Review
November 23rd, 2020 at 6:22 am
Little typo, I think you meant 20 YEARS ago. 😉
Anyway, thanks for the info, I’m very eager to get it and I hope it’s not an “limited run” / exclusivity thing. Hopefully it will be released in western countries.
November 23rd, 2020 at 8:32 am
Looks like these can’t be ordered on the .jp site and shipped to the UR. Bummer.
November 23rd, 2020 at 8:40 am
Thomas – Oops, clearly I don’t know the difference between the words year and decade. Thanks for the heads up, fixed.
John – Amazon might not have the actual stock for the book in yet. When it does, the option to ship international should be available. I think. Do check back on the link again.
February 16th, 2021 at 3:54 am
This looks like such a beautiful collection. Sadly, it appears to be a little out of my price range. Maybe if/when you secure a copy, you can post a few extra photos for us broke folk. haha 🙂
February 16th, 2021 at 4:50 am
Thank you so much for this update, my friend! I checked with amazon.jp again last week and thought, I missed my chance to order a copy.. But today I could place my order right away via the link you´ve provided. Can´t wait for the box to arrive! Cheers! 😀
February 16th, 2021 at 5:13 am
Ryan – Yes, I’ll be sure to post a review with more pictures from the art work. :]
Ralf – I’m glad you managed to pick up a copy ! I’m also excited to see my copy arrive ! :]
February 16th, 2021 at 11:48 am
Same with I, Ralf and Yonghow.
This has to be the most expensive book I ever purchased (it also look like it got knocked up to $275 US) but I took the plunge. The shipping changes are also a little bananas for the size of it but I think it’ll be all worth it.
Thanks for the link!
February 16th, 2021 at 12:54 pm
John – You’re very welcome ! Now we just need the book to ship ! :]
February 19th, 2021 at 11:21 am
Thanks for sharing the news, I’ve created an account with Amazon Japan (thanks for your helpful FAQ!) and added the book into my cart, the shipping fee to Malaysia was quoted at 5000yen. Wonder if it’s due to the weight of the book? The shipping fee was quite steep!
February 19th, 2021 at 12:07 pm
Chloe – Hey glad to be of help ! It’s partly due to the heavy weight of the book, and also because Amazon Japan seem to have raised their international shipping fees recently, unfortunately.
February 20th, 2021 at 12:30 am
Managed to get the book from the first edition batch, despite CDJapan telling me it would be released in March. It is one of the best artbooks I own (if not the best), totally worth the prize, and including English captions (except from the manga sections) makes it even better.
February 20th, 2021 at 7:09 am
yaridovic – That’s great news, thanks for the info. I’m even more excited for my copy to arrive now. :]
March 4th, 2021 at 8:18 pm
How can I get a copy?
March 5th, 2021 at 3:49 am
Ramona – I have several Amazon purchase links listed in my post above.
March 10th, 2021 at 7:33 pm
I’m a massive Ghibli fan, but considering the price of this item I want to make sure this purchase is absolutely worth it. Hopefully your review goes up soon 🙂
March 11th, 2021 at 9:22 am
Steelo – My copy should be arriving next week, so the review will follow shortly after. :]