Three men accused of indecency at Ghibli Park offer a public apology

Ghibli Park, meant for people of all ages to experience the work of Studio Ghibli, sparked an unpalatable controversy a few days after its opening. After photos of three men abusing the mannequins of underaged characters by groping and clicking pictures under their skirts surfaced on the internet, fans of the studio worldwide condemned the behavior.

The situation even caused Hideaki Omura, a prominent Japanese politician who is the current governor of Aichi Prefecture, to take matters into his own hands. He called out the people operating the Ghibli park and asked them to address this behavior by identifying the people behind such indecency.

Surprisingly, the three men reached out to the Governor on their own and issued a public apology for their misbehavior.

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Ghibli Park incident accused says that “they are deeply ashamed of their actions”

During a press conference on Friday, March 24, Omura revealed that the three men who were accused of misdeeds at Ghibli Park voluntarily decided to offer a public apology.

Omura further continued by saying that the three adults were deeply ashamed and worried about the influence of their actions and thought of accepting their wrongdoings by meeting the promotional department of Studio Ghibli.

[The tweet displaying pictures of the accused committing acts of indeceny at Ghibli Park can fan found here.]

Here’s what they said while confronting their wrongful actions:

"Taking those photos went beyond the level of a practical joke and made everyone feel uncomfortable. We've caused a lot of distress to everyone. We will never repeat these kinds of pranks ever in the future."

One of the three accused even said:

"It would be a problem if I was sued, and I just went there because it became important on Twitter, and if it hadn't happened, I wouldn't have apologized."

Omura announced that he “earnestly accepted the apology,” and despite his previous statement on enforcing legal action, he said:

"I would like to close this matter once and for all."

After the matter surfaced on the internet, citizens reportedly questioned the authorities behind Ghibli Park, but all they got was a “no-response” from the company. Due to authorities refraining from addressing the matter, people took action by sharing pictures of the accused with captions saying:

“Don’t let this slide.”

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Studio Ghibli is a well-established production house with a strong presence in the anime industry. The studio garnered a lot of worldwide appreciation for inaugurating a new theme park that made fans around immensely excited, giving them a strong reason to travel to Japan.

The Aichi government has officially stated that such indecency will lead to a punishable act and will see severe measures taken by the authorities, which made people relieved.