We discover the postcards that we’d chosen and written days ago (bought from a stationary shop that seemed to sell racks upon racks of postcards and nothing else, until we discovered it was about 10 times larger than we realised and quickly stocked up on Moomin goodies). We check the map to find the post office – it looks straightforward enough – and set off to post them at last.
What we don't realise is that in this area, Shinjuku splits into levels and we wind up being in the right general vicinity, but completely unable to reach the actual building. Once we finally descend to street-level, we go in, only to find we’re on the wrong floor. The good news is, the staff are very helpful and deal with our language shortcomings very well, and we’re soon all done and ready to continue today’s adventure.
As we’re heading to the Ghibli Museum today, we decide a stop at an ATM might be a good idea. We’re delighted by the fact that even the ATMs are polite, and not only that but they play you a little tune as they unveil your money dramatically from a secret compartment somewhere under the screen. Ta-dah!
We’re greeted at the entrance and a friendly staff member swaps our coupons for real tickets – which feature cells from films – Louise’s is from Spirited Away, and we can’t quite work out which film Rob’s is from, but think it may be Tales From Earthsea. We’re then ushered into a bright blue room, which has the most spectacular ceiling, with a painted fresco featuring the studio’s most popular characters, but we’re too excited to spend much time searching.
We head into the Central Hall, which has a tiny spiral staircase and a glass lift, Louise heads to the toilet and leaves Rob waiting as she explores the tiny details, which include Kiki’s Delivery Service’s Cat Jiji featuring on the taps, Totoro on doors and beautiful stained glass windows throughout the whole building.
Photo from: Studio Ghibli Museum
We explore the exhibitions, which cover Hayao Miyazaki’s work prior to the formation of the studio, alongside pieces relating to their films. We’re bewitched by a moving statue with a My Neighbour Totoro theme, which uses strobe lighting to make the characters seem like they’re moving.
There are storyboards, interactive exhibits and statues all over – it’s a Ghibli fan’s dream.
The next room we go into has a almost life-size plush catbus sprawled across the floor. We notice a sign stating that only school children can play – so watch jealously for a while, before heading on.
Photo from: Studio Ghibli Museum
On our way to the roof, we’re waylayed by the souvenir shop, where we absolutely load up on goodies, including a giant Totoro – which Louise spends the rest of the day proudly holding, keyrings, badges and a jigsaw. We’re in Ghibli-shopping-heaven, but it’s ok...we’re celebrating an engagement...
After a quick refuel we head up a cramped staircase – trying hard not to headbutt other people in the rear. Halfway up with stop to play with a musical bench and a water fountain – which turns out to be much more powerful than we realise and sprays Rob in the chops. Louise takes advantage of this and soaks Rob – much to the amusement of watching children.
When we get to roof, we’re rewarded with views of the sprawling ivy-covered museum and a giant statue of a Laputa robot – brilliant!
We spend a huge chunk of time browsing the books, before settling on The Art Of Princess Mononoke, Hayao Miyazaki’s Daydream Note, Archives of Studio Ghibli vol.1 (Nausicaa & Laputa), a Totoro picturebook, and the accompanying books to the short films shown in the museum. Naturally the majority of these are in Japanese, but the wonder of Ghibli transcends language...
Then, when we think we’ve seen everything the museum has to offer, we stumble upon a mock-up of Miyazaki’s own office/studio, which is a treasure-trove of books, reference materials, art, scientific instruments, models and very random objects. It’s the sort of place you could spend weeks exploring and still find new items all the time. Now, suitably assured we have actually explored every bit of the museum, we decide to do our aching feet a favour and head for the bus.
Walking from Shinjuku Station we notice that as it starts to rain, the residents of Tokyo react very differently to us. While we’re happy to ignore a light rain on a short journey, we see people going to great lengths to stay as dry as possible, even sheltering underneath their laptop cases or handbags. We take a slightly different route to usual, and stumble upon a greengrocer who’s open surprisingly late, selling slabs of fresh pineapple skewered with chopsticks. We stand to one side (eating on the street in Japan is a faux-pas) and enjoy a much-needed vitamin-C top-up after a diet that, we realise, has been a bit to centred on Pocky and cakes.
We finish the night with a meal of steamed dumplings from a 7-Eleven, and enjoy such flavours as pizza and chow mein balls. We sit in the room and watch the people 20 storeys below us go about their nights in the rain.
