My Neighbor Totoro Musical Ferris Wheel

It's hard not to be smitten by the world of Hayao Miyazaki and Studio Ghibli's films with their fanciful (and downright cute!) characters, and the beautiful melodies of composer Joe Hisaishi. As a collector of Ghibli music boxes, I always love to keep an eye on what new creative piece is out there. While I am still short a "Porco Rosso" and wondering if "Nausicaä" will ever get an anniversary edition release or something, "My Neighbor Totoro" is never in short supply and rarely fails to impress.

Take for example the 2011 "My Neighbor Totoro" musical ferris wheel. Standing at 10" tall, you can watch Mei, Chu-Totoro, Shu-Totoro and the sootballs (and a hearty stock of acorns and corn) take a ride on the magical forest tree. And, of course, no forest party is complete without our wondorous ride conductor Totoro and an appearance by the Cat Bus!

Instead of having a a classic wind-up arm, the wheel is controlled by an ON/OFF switch powered by 3 AA batteries (sorry, batteries not included) and plays the "Tonari no Totoro" theme. I do wish that one day Ghibli switches up the song in their "Totoro" pieces (perhaps with "The Wind Forest") as the theme is ALWAYS used.


It's not easy to quickly get your hands on Ghibli music boxes and they are certainly not cheap (trust me, I know), but searching auction sites like eBay and Japanese specialty sites like JBOX are always good places to start. But in the case of this featured ferris wheel and rare items, check out Love Ghibli, an online store dedicated only to the finest Ghibli items.