Toyota Has Built The Cat Bus From My Neighbor Totoro And Yes, It Works
Something is clearly running through the water at Toyota HQ at the moment. Fresh from building a fully-functioning Pokémon, the manufacturing giant has turned its attention to another bit of Japanese pop culture.
This is the Cat Bus, which any Studio Ghibli fans will immediately recognise from My Neighbor Totoro. The Cat Bus only appears for a short while in the 1988 film, transporting Totor, Satsuki and Mei at various points, but has become an icon in its own right.
Toyota APM Cat Bus, rear
Now, Toyota has built a real, working version of its own and enlisted the help of Studio Ghibli director Goro Miyazaki for the project.
Based on the Toyota Accessible People Mover (APM), a low-speed EV designed for use at Tokyo 2020 Olympics, the bus has been given a complete makeover to resemble the one from the film. Sadly, it still requires wheels rather than six sets of legs, but the spirit is there.
Toyota APM Cat Bus, eyes
Some serious thought has gone into the design though. For example, the eyes (which also glow) donât face forward but slightly out to the sides to achieve a âsupernaturalâ look. The destination board on the roof has purposely been dim-lit for a â60s feel and reads âGhibli Parkâ when translated into English. Four mice sit on the top too, and have been placed to be visible at the eye line of a 100cm-tall (about 3â3â) child.
Toyota Times, the manufacturerâs internal magazine, says the biggest challenge of building the Cat Bus was taking a 2D animated character to a 3D form, highlighting that âwhile animated characters are drawn with outlines, no such contour lines exist on real-world objects.â To work around this, the brown sections are slightly raised rather than outlined to give them a more pronounced effect.
Toyota APM Cat Bus, seats
The interior has been styled to match the colours of the Cat Busâ fur too, with âcat brownâ and âcat beigeâ materials placed throughout. The seats are covered with fur-like upholstery, and are said to be removable for easy cleaning. Youâll also find that same fur-like material on the roof.
Sadly, the Cat Bus won’t be a full-scale production vehicle. A shame, as no doubt youâd see a few Studio Ghibli diehards driving around in them. However, they will see service at the Ghibli Park theme park in Nagakute, Japan.
Cool