Japan’s unofficial but approved Ghibli anime cafe is opening a new branch and looking for staff

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Kodama is expanding with a new location closer to the Ghibli theme park.

Kodama, or Osu no Mori Cafe Kodama, occupies a unique spot in the dining scene. On the one hand, even a quick glance at the Nagoya eatery will tell you that it’s a Studio Ghibli anime-themed cafe. Everywhere you look you’ll see characters, settings, and other artwork from the films of the esteemed animation studio co-founded by director Hayao Miyazaki.

It’s not just the interior decorations that are Ghibli-style either, as a number of menu items are clear references to scenes or design points from the anime, and then there’s the cafe’s name, “Kodama,” which is not so coincidentally the name of the rattle-headed forest spirits in Princess Mononoke

▼ Look, a kodama inside Kodama!

But while Kodama is clearly a Ghibli-themed cafe, it’s also very much not a Ghibli cafe, in the sense that the restaurant is not owned by, operated by, or otherwise officially associated with the studio. It’s just a cafe whose owners really like Ghibli anime, and decided to put that affection for the studio’s works into the design of their restaurant and menu.

That might seem like playing with fire, considering that Ghibli can be fiercely protective of their intellectual property, and with the Ghibli Park theme park being located in the Nagoya area, it was only a matter of time until the cafe caught the attention of Ghibli’s higher-ups. As a matter of fact, a while back none other than Goro Miyazaki himself paid a personal visit to Kodama…and liked the place so much that the official Ghibli Twitter account shared photos of his meal and how impressed the studio is with Kodama.

Having gotten this indirect stamp of approval, Kodama has carried on with business as Ghibli-usual, and has been so successful that it’s now opening a second branch!

As announced through the cafe’s Twitter and Instagram accounts on Monday, the new branch will be located in Fujigaoka, a Nagoya neighborhood east of the city center, making it possible to add a Kodama side-trip to your itinerary on your way to or from Ghibli Park in the town of Nagakute.

▼ Route from Fujigaoka Station to Ghibli Park

In addition, the announcement says that Kodama is looking for part-time staff for their new location, with minimum requirements of at least two days a week with four-hour shifts (more specifics can be found in the second slide of the cafe’s Instagram post embedded below).

An exact opening date for Kodama’s Fujigaoka branch has yet to be announced, but the posts also say that the new cafe will be getting its own social media accounts in May, so a late-spring opening date seems the most likely scenario. Meanwhile, if you’re looking for an opportunity to work with Ghibli itself, the studio is currently hiring too, seeking artists for its upcoming new short anime project.

Source: Twitter/@moricafe_kodama
Top image: Studio Ghibli
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