No Maps for These Territories

This is a day I was excited for the whole trip.  The Studio Ghibli Museum!  If you haven’t seen the Studio Ghibli films, you’re missing out.  Spirited Away, My Neighbor Totoro, Princess Mononoke… all animated and fantastic.  It’s been called the Disney of Japan, but I think it’s much, much more than that.  The museum is a bit tough to get tickets for, they only sell them at Lawsons, and the machines only work in Japanese.  I convinced a clerk to buy the tickets for me, which he was very gracious about, and we headed out to Mitaka, a short train ride from Shinjuku.

It’s a very cool little town.

They even have their own bus that goes right from the station to Ghibli!

Just look at this place.  It was built with the sense of wonder of all of Miyazaki’s films.  Moss and vines, tunnels and secrets, huge robots and spiral staircases.

Totoro mans the admission booth.

Aww.

It’s hard to describe how magical the place is, I’ll let my pictures speak for themselves in some cases.

This is the inside.   Large walkways crisscross the interior, and you’re encouraged to just explore.  There’s no guides, no correct path, and very few signs.

Kids should wash their hands before eating, of course.  Everything is built to encourage kids to be empowered and help themselves.

All the custom made stained glass has characters from the movies!  How cool is that?  Here’s a forest spirit from Mononoke.

A spiral staircase inside, where kids can go up three floors.

A massive atrium and fan.

Little kids playing on a massive stuffed cat bus!

Outside benches with built in noisemakers.

Crazy steampunk water fountain.

I want one at home.

Iron Giant has a bit of moss growing on him.

Cats watch you from the windows.

A working well…

With a man on the other side, ready to suck up the water.

More eyeballs!

Then we headed back to the hotel, before heading out to the Park Hyatt, where I wanted to check out the bar from Lost in Translation.  The view from our hotel room.

The bar was fantastic, live jazz music, and a view to kill for.

I tried to get some pictures, but I couldn’t really do it justice.

And finally, as we walked around the neighborhood after the bar, in search of donuts, I found a great sign outside a bar.  I think we’ve all been there before.