Tokyo, Sept. 29 (Jiji Press)–Japan’s Imperial Household Agency has released photographs of Emperor Naruhito and Empress Masako taken during their visit to Ghibli Park, a theme park in Nagakute, Aichi Prefecture, on Sept. 20. The photographs, released Monday, were taken by a chamberlain using the Emperor’s smartphone and show the Imperial couple posing with characters from animated films produced by Studio Ghibli Inc. In one photograph, the Emperor and Empress sit next to a statue of No-Face, a character from the film Spirited Away. In another, the couple look out from the windows of a life-size replica of Catbus, a bus-shaped character from the film My Neighbor Totoro. At the park, Emperor Naruhito took out his smartphone and had a chamberlain take photos with it. When he sat next to the No-Face statue, the Emperor remarked that there was a similar scene in Spirited Away, in which Sen, the protagonist, sat next to the character. END [Copyright The Jiji Press, Ltd.]
