Tonari no Totoro Totoro ...

Mei finds Totoro in its tree

I am sure most people loves the Studio Ghibli, スタジオジブリ (Sutajio Jiburi) produced animation film My Neighbor Totoro, となりのトトロ (Tonari no Totoro); find My Neighbor Totoro at Amazon; the story written and directed by Hayao Miyazaki, 宮崎 駿 (Miyazaki Hayao).  Who can hate the cute fluffy Totoro and the Catbus, ねこのバス (Neko no basu) we hope to ride in?

The story is where a professor, Tatsuo Kusakade and his two daughters, Satsuki and Mei, moved to a house so that they will be closer to Yasuko, their mother, who is in a hospital.  When they first move in, the children finds susuwatari, ススワタリ(susuwatari) dwelling in the house, though the susuwatari soon leave the house for another empty house.  Soon, Mei spot interesting creatures in the grass and she followed them, which eventually leads to a hollow tree; where she met the giant sized version of the creatures, Totoro.  Find out their adventures with Totoro and friends, where they took a ride in the Catbus, and fly around with Totoro at midnight.

Gonna take a ride on the Catbus

Enjoy the wonderful music of the film’s soundtrack also, the opening theme, Stroll, さんぽ (Sanpo) and the ending song, My Neighbor Totoro, となりのトトロ (Tonari no Totoro) are my favorites among the soundtrack titles.

My Totoro Collections

Most people who watch a lot of Japanese films and TV series would probably be familiar with “の” (no).  の has many usages in the Japanese Language.  It can be a connector for two nouns; being a designative marker; acting similar to the possessive (A’s) in English or的 (de) in Chinese; and more.

For example,  in となりのトトロ (Tonari no Totoro), 隣 or となり (tonari) means neighbor or next door.  Connecting it to トトロ (Totoro) with の (no) makes it “Next door’s Totoro.  Forねこのバス (Neko no basu), 猫 or ねこ (neko) means cat while バス (basu) means bus.  Connecting it with の describes the bus which is a cat.

So try easily to connect two words with の, like サツキはメイの姉 (Satsuki wa Mei no Ane), which means Satsuki is Mei’s older sister; or describe Totoro asメイの友達 (Mei no Tomodachi).  Note that the main idea always comes after の.

Susuwatari also appears in Spirited Away as they work in the bathhouse.

Know them,

Kanji	Hiragana/Katakana	Romaji	English
	スタジオジブリ	Sutajio Jiburi	Studio Ghibli
	となりのトトロ	Tonari no Totoro	My Neighbor Totoro
宮崎 駿		Miyazaki Hayao	Hayao Miyazaki
	ねこのバス	Neko no basu	Catbus
	ススワタリ	Susuwatari	Sootballs

Some vocabulary,

Kanji	Hiragana/Katakana	Romaji	English
散歩	さんぽ	Sanpo	A walk, a stroll
隣	となり	Tonari	Neighbor, next door
猫	ねこ	Neko	Cat
	バス	Basu	Bus
姉	あね	Ane	Older sister

Hope you enjoy watching My Neighbor Totoro and have fun practice using の (no)!