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April 18

Studio Ghibli Museum

Ah, Ghibli Museum. What is it? Studio Ghibli is a group headed by, amongst others, Hiyao Miyazaki. They have created some of Japan's most famous, and in my opinion most brilliant, movies. Among these are My Neighbor Totoro, as well as newer films like Princess Mononoke and the recently released Spirited Away. The Ghibli Museum was created to house and display art from Studio Ghibli. That being said, it is more of a dream, wonderland, than a museum.

After leaving Mitaka station, we were immediately confronted by a bus stop sign that has sprouted a little smiling totoro on top.

The tickets (which as of this writing can only be purchased from Lawson's convenience stores in Japan) contain an information page which says you can either take the Ghibli Museum bus, which will take you straight to the museum, or follow their map and take a pleasant 15 minute walk by a tree lined stream. We opted for the walk. On the way to the park, you continually pass totoro signs that let you know you're going the right way.

When you get to the museum, which is located in Mitaka Forest, you are assaulted by a strange, multicolored building that looks more like a huge, melting, neopolitan ice cream than a museum.

I'm not going to go into a step-by-step tour of the museum for 2 reasons. First, I'm not sure I have the energy to write it. But second, and more importantly, if you do end up going one day, I want you to have the same feelings of wonder that I had when I was first exploring it.

What I will tell you is that this is the most well designed museum I've ever been to. It really gives you that same sense of wonder that is evoked by the movies they've created. The museum has, quite literally, been designed around the trees of the park in which it is located. There are full-grown trees that have had the museum built around them, so that they sprout from the top of buildings. There are gardens on the tops of some of the smaller buildings. And in addition to rooms full of art and toys and works of inspiration, there are also stain-glass windows showing scenes from various movies, as well as a giftshop that'll drain the wallet of any Ghibli fan.

A very large number of children were brought to the museum by their parents. The museum was designed so that the children had no choice but to enjoy themselves, whether it was climbing miniture stairways and exploring the museums maze of rooms, or jumping up and down on the huge, stuffed totoro cat-bus.

Finally, we also got to watch a short film in the museum's own basement theatre. The one that is running this season is "Kujira Tori", a cute anime short about a group of kids who go whale catching, but end up getting saved by the same whale they've caught. During different seasons, different short films will be shown. Recently they showed one about a puppy who gets lost, called "Korota No Dai Sanpo", and at some point will also be showing a short sequel to totoro: "Mei and the Cat Bus".

Hanging out in the Ghibli Museum is the bulk of what we did this day. After leaving we went by a nearby cafe called Firehouse cafe, which had superb coffee which wasn't too pricey. Kyoko then went to stay at Kei's place, and Jen and I went back for a romantic night at home.

Other than the Studio Ghibli website (in Japanese), another good place to get information on these movies is Nausicaa.net.

If you are interested in going to the museum, you can visit: Ghibli Museum's overseas ticket page, which takes you to JTB, for North America. You can also visit the Museum's hompage.