Ghibli Museum

It's been a while! Even though I've been on autumn break for over two weeks, I didn't notice that I've been sorely neglecting this blog until now It's not because I've been doing nothing, though. I have a lot to get through, so I'm just going to make a massive blog update with my remaining days of vacation.

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November 21st, 2013

One of the perks of living in Mitaka is that the Ghibli Museum is right in town. It's about a 30-minute bike ride away from campus, but it's worth it. You have to buy tickets in advance to go, I think, so we actually had this trip planned since around the end of September. I actually almost forgot about it until my friend reminded me, haha.

We went in a group of six, and my Japanese friend (who I met at UMass last year) was the one who organized the trip. We weren't allowed to take pictures inside, but we could take pictures of the outside.

The museum was a bit different from what I expected. I thought there would be a bunch of exhibits for each Ghibli movie, but it was more about the exhibition of the art and animation process itself (which was still interesting). My favorite exhibition was a room that had a bunch of sketches of characters on the wall and a replica of Miyazaki's animation desk. I liked seeing the different character design possibilities, especially for Kiki's Delivery Service. It's not really the most interesting or famous Ghibli movie, but I used to watch it a lot when I was feeling down, so I have a bit of an emotional attachment to it, lol.

What a lot of people go there for is to see an original Ghibli short film that is shown about every 20 minutes (I think?). The film differs depending on the day. I forget the name of the one we saw, but it was about a little old man and woman who are farmers on a mountain and lead a life without anything exciting happening. One day, the old man hears a noise from the woods nearby at night, so he goes to investigate and finds a bunch of mice having a sumo tournament. The mice that lose are the ones that live in the old man's house. He gets a bit angry at this, so the next day, the man and his wife spend all day making food for the mice that will make them stronger. They even make little mouse-sized sumo outfits. The next time the mice have a match, they win! It was a super cute film.

I didn't buy any souvenirs. I was really indecisive. Maybe I'll have to go back another day!

Afterwards, we went to eat lunch in Kichijoji. The fastest way to get there was through Inokashira Park. I had never been there before, but I want to go back there a lot now.

 (I've been on a kick of taking pictures of foliage...be prepared.)

When you get your admission ticket at the entrance, you also get a little strip of film that shows a scene from a Studio Ghibli movie when held up to the light. I'm still not 100% sure which movie mine is from, but I think it's from Kiki's Delivery Service (when she's up in her room and sneaks out the morning after she's sick to go use the bathroom). Anyone want to confirm? Haha.

So, if you've wondered where the Ghibli Museum is or wanted to go, go! It's worth the ￥1000.