The studio itself is located in northeastern Tokyo in the same neighborhood as the Edo Museum. The museum is in the very pretty Inokashira park in Mitaka, a western suburb.
The museum is delightful and charming and winsome. Just like our Miss Emily, so let's leave it to her to describe:
So after we rushed from train to train because we thought we would be late (our tickets said noon and we didn't want to be turned away because that would suck and I would maybe have cried) we finally got to Mitaka station.
We decided to get a cab, and we rode the approximate kilometer to the entrance in the park. Pother paid the taxi guy and we got out and there it was in all its glory. We came in by Totoro's reception, where Totoro was sitting at a desk with a sign that says "open!" and had all sorts of soot spirits and IT WAS MAGICAL. But we zoomed over to the offical entrance where the people let us in and gave us information packets and a map.
We didn't need a map. There was a whole page that was entitled "Let's Get Lost Together" and talked about how the museum was designed for exploration without a set path in any way. It was awesome.
We went to the Saturn Theater, which is the Studio Ghibli movie theater and watched the little film which was adorable in all it wanted to be in life. It was the story of a bunch of kids at a preschool and some made a boat out of blocks and then the room filled up with water and they sailed away to go fishing for whales.
Then they caught a whale and started home, but a storm blew up so the whale swam them home for them and when they got home the other kids had flower bouquets for the sailors and a giant wreath for the whale and goodness the adorabibleness.
But then we wandered around and there was stained glass everywhere of all the films, like there was a Spirited Away door, and a Nausicaa door and a Ponyo window and a Princess Monenoke window and two Kiki's Delivery Service ones and a whole lot of Totoro everywhere and there was one window that was a lot of different films and there was Chihiro riding Haku and it was so cool!
There was a whole exhibit on how cameras work and stuff, but since neither of us could read Japanese we just looked at the stuff and didn't read all the cards but it was still great. And across that there's this place that's like an artist's studio with all sorts of books and sketches and storyboards from all the films and I was pointing to them going "Look! Kiki! Look! It's Howl and Sophie! Look! Monenoke! Look! Chihiro! Look! Arietty!" And so on.
There was a whole room of animation styles and strobe light stuff and dioramas and there was a whole wall of Ghibli films and I knew almost all of them and I was so proud of myself.
After a while we broke for lunch and I had a hotdog and Pother didn't get anything but then we both had delicious ice cream. We went down to the courtyard with a pump and a super cool looking drain and a few windows with the soot spirits from Totoro and Spirited Away. There was also a doorway that was gated and it looked like the city from Kiki's Delivery Service was behind it and I was excited by that.
We also went onto the roof with a cool plant covered spiral staircase and we saw the robot from Castle in the Sky up there and I got my picture with it. Beyond the robot was this tiny path to a box which I think is also from Castle in the Sky but it's been a long time since I've seen that film.
There was also this cool spiral staircase inside that led up to about halfway up the staircase from the second to third level. We went up that too and that was one of the reasons I decided that I want a house like this museum.
We went to the gift shop last where I got three folding dioramas of the museum and two Totoro fans, which I use as Japan is HOT. But there was also this ring that looked just like Howl's ring that he gives Sophie to lead her home from Kingsbury and on the inside it said "Howl & Sophie" and it was super expensive but it was so pretty!
After that we went back, because I didn't want to lose any of the magic and I think that was a good idea because it's still magic to me now.
And that's the Studio Ghibli museum! We walked back to the station and I was slowly overheating again (it happens a lot when it's so hot as here) but then we got on the train and I was A-OK.
but that's the story, and nothing else really happened so there you have it.
The End
F
No comments:
Post a Comment