Studio Ghibli is releasing its first-ever original short animation made specifically for Ghibli Park. Title: A Night in the Valley of Witches (Majo no Tani no Yoru). Premiere: July 8, 2026. The directing duo: Goro Miyazaki, plus Akihiko Yamashita, a name that will make any Ghibli animation nerd sit up straight. And the screening location: one small theater in Aichi Prefecture, Japan. Only. So how does an overseas fan actually see this?

What We Know About Majo no Tani no Yoru

On April 21, 2026, Studio Ghibli announced a new short animation titled Majo no Tani no Yoru (literally "Night of the Valley of Witches"). It has been screening since Wednesday, July 8, 2026 at Cinema Orion, the small screening room located inside the Ghibli's Grand Warehouse at Ghibli Park in Nagakute, Aichi Prefecture.

This is significant for two reasons. First, it's the very first original short animation Studio Ghibli has produced specifically for Ghibli Park. Previous Ghibli Park attractions have showcased existing Ghibli footage or thematic exhibits. Second, it's the first notable new Ghibli animation project since The Boy and the Heron (2023), which has the Ghibli fandom globally watching closely.

At the time of the announcement, plot details were kept under wraps. The announcement poster shows two young people in work-like uniforms: a redheaded boy staring up at the sky with a shocked expression, and a calm girl with round glasses standing next to him. Behind them: a European-style townscape with a clock tower, half-timbered houses, and what appears to be a tiny three-wheeled car tipping sideways as it drives. Something is clearly "happening" on this night, we just don't know what yet.

魔女の谷の夜

STUDIO GHIBLI

The Directing Duo: Goro Miyazaki × Akihiko Yamashita

The real headline for many fans isn't the title, it's the pairing behind the camera.

Goro Miyazaki, born 1967, is Hayao Miyazaki's eldest son. He spent his early career in landscape architecture before serving as the first director of the Ghibli Museum in Mitaka. He transitioned to animation with Tales from Earthsea (2006), then directed From Up on Poppy Hill (2011), the TV series Ronja, the Robber's Daughter (2014–15), and Earwig and the Witch (2020), Studio Ghibli's first fully 3DCG production. Outside of filmmaking, he has been deeply involved in the design and creative direction of Ghibli Park itself.

Akihiko Yamashita, born 1966 in Kurashiki, Okayama, is the kind of animator who's famous among animators. Veteran Ghibli animator Masashi Ando has described him as "the representative animator who has supported Studio Ghibli's works since the 2000s." His resume reads like a highlight reel of modern Ghibli: key animation on Spirited Away (including Chihiro and Haku's free-fall sequence), chief animation director on Howl's Moving Castle, the single largest key-animation contribution to Ponyo, the most cuts on The Wind Rises, and primary cleanup work on The Boy and the Heron. In 2010 he made his directorial debut with the Ghibli Museum short A Sumo Wrestler's Tail (Chuu-zumou), earning warm praise.

For Yamashita to step forward as co-director on this project is unusual, and for the setting to be "Valley of Witches," the area most thematically tied to Howl's Moving Castle (where he was the head animation director), feels almost personally calibrated. If you've heard Ghibli fans on Japanese Twitter shouting "the animation is going to be INSANE," this is why.

The Setting: Valley of Witches

The short takes place in, and draws from, Ghibli Park's Valley of Witches area, which opened on March 16, 2024 as the final of five areas in the park's Phase 2 expansion. It's also the largest area by footprint.

Valley of Witches pulls from three "witch films" in the Ghibli catalog: Kiki's Delivery Service, Howl's Moving Castle, and Earwig and the Witch. The area is built as a cobblestoned European town complete with the Okino Residence (Kiki's family home), Guchokipanya Bakery, Howl's Castle, The House of Witches (from Earwig), a carousel, a flying-machine ride, and a whimsical entrance gate called "The Mouth of the Witch" inspired by Bella Yaga.

Fans who have visited describe the architectural detail as "obsessively accurate", every signpost, window shutter, and brass fitting feels lifted directly from the films. Watching a short film set in this exact environment should reward fans who've walked the space. Ideal viewing order: tour the area first, see the short after.

Ticket Changes Starting in July

Starting with July admissions, Ghibli Park updated several ticket types to coincide with the short's release:

The existing "Valley of Witches & Mononoke Village Area Pass" now includes access to all three of the featured interior attractions, Okino Residence, Howl's Castle, and The House of Witches, that previously required separate same-day tickets. Pricing: weekdays ¥3,300 adult (about $21 USD) / ¥1,650 child (about $10), weekends and holidays ¥3,800 adult (about $24) / ¥1,900 child (about $12).

A new "Satoyama Stroll Pass" (Satoyama Sanpo-ken) covers Valley of Witches, Mononoke Village, and Dondoko Forest, excluding interior attractions but including shops, restaurants, and outdoor attractions. Weekdays ¥1,000 adult (about $6) / ¥500 child (about $3), weekends ¥1,500 adult (about $9) / ¥750 child (about $5).

The existing premium option, the Ghibli Park O-Sanpo Day Pass Premium, continues to offer full access to all five areas and all interior attractions for about ¥7,300 adult / ¥3,650 child on weekdays (about $46 / $23). For international visitors who've flown this far, this is typically the right choice.

How International Fans Can Actually Get Tickets

Ghibli Park is fully reservation-based. There are no walk-up tickets.

International visitors buy through the overseas-facing ticket portal (Boo-Woo Ticket English site). Tickets go on sale two months before the desired visit date, at 2:00 PM Japan Standard Time on the 10th of the month. For example, October 2026 admissions open on August 10, and November admissions on September 10.

Do the timezone math carefully. 2:00 PM JST equals: 1:00 AM ET (New York), 10:00 PM PT (Los Angeles, previous day), 6:00 AM BST (London), 7:00 AM CEST (Madrid/Berlin), 2:00 AM (São Paulo/Buenos Aires), and midnight (Mexico City). Weekend slots and Premium passes routinely sell out within minutes. Set alarms. Have a credit card already saved in the form. Open multiple browser tabs.

On opening day, July 8, a special screening event with a directors' talk was held for 150 first-come attendees, where Goro Miyazaki and Akihiko Yamashita shared behind-the-scenes stories.

Access and What Else to Do in the Area

Ghibli Park sits inside Expo 2005 Aichi Commemorative Park in Nagakute, Aichi Prefecture. The closest station is Ai-Chikyuhaku-Kinen-Koen on the Linimo magnetic levitation line. From Nagoya Station, take the Higashiyama subway line to Fujigaoka (about 30 minutes), then transfer to Linimo for another 13 minutes. Total travel time is roughly 45 minutes to one hour.

For overseas travelers, Nagoya (Chubu Centrair International Airport) is the natural base. It pairs well with trips to Kyoto and Osaka, which are roughly 40 minutes away by Shinkansen. Worthwhile Nagoya-area sights include the Toyota Commemorative Museum of Industry and Technology, Nagoya Castle, and (for families) Legoland Japan. Day trips from Nagoya include Inuyama Castle and the UNESCO World Heritage gassho-zukuri villages of Shirakawa-go.

Will It Screen Overseas?

The question everyone outside Japan wants answered: is there any chance to see this film without flying to Aichi?

The short answer: no announcement has been made, and the precedent is not encouraging.

The better reference point is the roughly dozen short films Studio Ghibli has made for the Ghibli Museum in Mitaka over the past two decades, titles like Mr. Dough and the Egg Princess, A Sumo Wrestler's Tail, House-Hunting, Water Spider Monmon, and Boro the Caterpillar. These have historically been museum-exclusive. They are not included in the Netflix/HBO Max Ghibli catalog that launched worldwide in 2020. A few have received occasional festival screenings (for example, Boro the Caterpillar was shown at the Cannes Film Festival in 2021), but there's no consistent release pipeline.

The realistic expectation is that Majo no Tani no Yoru will be a Ghibli Park exclusive experience, at least for the foreseeable future. It's deliberately designed as a reason to visit the park, similar to how Tokyo DisneySea's original attraction films are made specifically for that single location.

Japanese Fan Reactions

Japanese social media went straight into "Yamashita Akihiko directing something? Fire up the flight to Aichi" mode. The most excited responses are from core Ghibli fans who know Yamashita's credits line-by-line and view the directorial pairing as a signal of serious animation quality.

More mixed takes also appear: some fans express frustration that Goro Miyazaki is involved (a legacy of the divisive reception of Tales from Earthsea in 2006, though his reputation has steadily rebuilt through From Up on Poppy Hill, Ronja, and his park design work). Others are pragmatic, "tickets are already impossible, this makes it worse", or sympathetic to overseas fans: "feel bad for international fans, this is basically unreachable."

Worth the Trip?

Studio Ghibli has positioned Majo no Tani no Yoru as a premium experience you travel for, not a film you stream. For fans who were already planning to visit Japan, this lands at a perfect time, you'll want to see the Valley of Witches area and the new short in sequence, giving you a full reason to devote a day to Ghibli Park.

For fans who've never considered a Japan trip, this alone probably won't justify the airfare. But combined with everything else Japan offers in July (Kyoto, Tokyo, Osaka, Mt. Fuji, Disney Resorts, countless onsen towns), it's another compelling data point.

How is this news being received in your country? Are Ghibli fans where you live excited, or resigned? Would you make the trip just for a five-to-ten-minute short, or does it need to be part of a bigger Japan itinerary? Let us know in the comments.

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