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Tokorozawa Station to play music from ‘My Neighbor Totoro’ on train platforms from November

This is the first time Studio Ghibli music will be used as a train station jingle in Japan

Kaila Imada
Written by
Kaila Imada
Associate Editor, Time Out Tokyo
Tokorozawa Station
Photo: chichibu417/Photo AC
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Tokyo trains are not only top class and consistently on time, they’ve got a bit of personality, too. You may be familiar with the station jingles, which come on every time a train is about to depart. These jingles have become synonymous with Tokyo’s train stations and they are often renditions of iconic pop songs or movie scores. What’s more impressive is that each station’s jingle is different.  

Starting Tuesday November 3, Seibu Railway’s Tokorozawa Station in Saitama prefecture will be using popular tunes from Studio Ghibli’s anime ‘My Neighbor Totoro’ as its station jingle to commemorate Tokorozawa City’s 70th anniversary. This is a perfect fit for the station as the scenery in the film was based on Sayama Hills, a forested area located in Tokorozawa. 

There will be a total of five melodies taken from these two songs off the original soundtrack, ‘Sanpo’ and ‘My Neighbor Totoro’. Each jingle will be roughly five seconds long and can be heard across the platforms that service the Shinjuku and Ikebukuro lines. This marks a first for Studio Ghibli as no other train station in Japan has ever used its songs as a departure tune. 

Along with the new jingle, the station will also be installing a new ‘My Neighbor Totoro’ monument at its exit. Expect to see this sometime at the end of the year.

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