So, you want to live in a Miyazaki house, eh?

A replica of the Kusakabe residence, a house of the 1950s in which the lead characters of Studio Ghibli's 1988 animated feature "My Neighbor Totoro" lived, will be built within the woods of the Expo site. It will be constructed using techniques of the early Showa era and will undergo artificial aging. The furnishings will also be made to reflect the movie as faithfully as possible. This pavilion, however, will not focus on amusement; the old-fashioned Japanese house itself is the highlight of this plan.

Visitors will be able to freely explore the house, looking inside closets and chests and touching things, just like the heroines Satsuki and Mei did when they first arrived at the house. In addition, programs will be offered in which visitors can get a taste of life in the mid-1950s to the mid-60s (the Showa 30s)--what might be considered the "slow life" of the good old days, when people lived closer to nature than they do today.

Link Via Boing Boing/Mark Frauenfelder