Totoro no Mori, Sayama Hills (My Neighbor Totoro)

A timber-stepped path through Totoro Forest No. 1, the first plot of the Sayama Hills woodland bought for protection, photographed in May 2026. Miyazaki lived in Tokorozawa and walked these hills, the film grew from those walks, and an early working title even named the town. The woods where Satsuki and Mei meet Totoro draw on them. A trust supported by Miyazaki was set up in 1990 to save the hills from development and bought this first plot in 1991; it now looks after dozens of numbered plots. No gift shop, no rides: just the satoyama woodland the film made famous.