Totoro is the big cuddly character who is the star of the Tokuma Film Tonari No Totoro which was also released in the USA as My Neighbor Totoro. Only unjaded kids can see him and his pals (two smaller totoros as well as a creature that's half cat, half bus). The film evokes a strong nostalgic feeling in Japanese adults for those good ol' times (this may be lost on Western audiences), but Totoro's real cute so SEE THE FILM! It's now available on video at your local outlet.
Two little girls, Satsuki and Mei, move to the country with their Dad, a college professor of some sort. He wants to live in a quiet place to work on his book, I guess. They can also be closer to Mom, who has some kind of romantic consumptive disease 
that's confined her to a sanatorium. The family's new house is a rickety Western-style study and attic added to a really old traditional farmhouse. On the first day, as they're putting up their furniture and cleaning, Satsuki and Mei encounter the Makkurokurosuke, little black sooty spirits that live in old dusty homes. Mei catches one!
The girls become friends with the old lady from a nearby farm, who tells them about the shy spirits of the countryside. Sure enough, the Makkurokurosuke depart en masse that first evening, reluctant to share the house with humans.
Soon, Satsuki starts school, and Mei spends her days exploring the yard and the woods next to the house. She's trying not to bother her Dad, who is working at home on his research. It's not long before she sees her first totoro, who is running around collecting acorns. There's a little tiny white one (Chibi Totoro), a slightly bigger one (Chu Totoro), and Mei finally meets a giant Totoro who lives in a big hollow tree! Later, Satsuki also meets Totoro, and their adventures begin! Will Dad ever meet Totoro? Do other strange creatures live in rural Japan? Will Mom ever get better and come home from the hospital?
Totoro was created by Hayao Miyazaki, who is the man responsible for many wonderful animated features from Japan for audiences of all ages. His works don't rely on the slick violence or the shock of the grotesque that characterize so many of the Japanese Anime genre. If you would like to find out about his other films, take a look at his FILMOGRAPHY maintained by Team Ghiblink!
(Each image is a link!)
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homepage.