This picture gets posted online a lot. While the last reply gets a lot right, it also gets a lot wrong. Mainly, the poster seems to believe that there can't be any dark themes in this movie because it's aimed at kids. Here's a reply with quotes showing that the bath house may not be as innocent as the above poster thinks. I translated the last quote, that's why I got pinged.
Edit: I'm specifically talking about the director's intentions, because that's what this was about. Of course if the movie to you is about strength, authoritarian regimes and the importance of konpeito, that is valid.
The only source for the first long quote that seems to confirm that Miyazaki actually intended the bath house or the things going on in there as a metaphor for a brothel has been called untrustworthy by some people. After all, it might've been made up. So, who is so annoyed by this whole discussion never being resolved that she paid way too much money for a used magazine? Have you seen this grumpy old man?
Actually the very first sentence mentions how he totally meant to retire and that many people probably didn't take it at face value. The interview itself is around 5 pages long and as you can see I don't have a scanner on me right now, but rest assured that he rants about society past and present and new technologies "Who needs DVD?
No one needs DVD! Anyways, is the damn quote in there? Is there literal prostitution going on at Yuya? Short answer: Probably not, but that's not the point. Long answer: The quote is there. It's not like I intentionally drew something like this, rather I drew a somewhat old place that once was in its prime but then was forgotten by everyone. That [lodgings for children and young adults of a village usually until they married] were something sexual. Is Yuya an actual whorehouse and when Chihiro goes to bed Rin pleasures the Daikon god?
