Hi again everyone, today I visited the Ghibli Museum which is the best thing any anime fan can every do. Seeing the life-size Laputian robot that that greets you by looking down at you from the roof sends a shutter down you spine and you know this is going to be something special. As you walk through the doors a stained glass Catbus is directly above you and you then receive your ticket which contains a film cell (mine contained Kiki). On into the first room you will get to the amazing Ghibli zeotrope which is a device which animates several stationary models at once by using strobe lighting. The effect is great and never fails to impress the visitors.
Next was the exhibition room. In here the exhibition changes every few months and on my previous visits was Ghibli features Laputa & Heidi. This time however I was surprised to see an Aardman exhibition! I had travelled half way across the world to see an exhibition I could have seen in my hometown of Bristol! The exhibition was great though, with giant models of Wallace & Gromit (as well as Creature Comforts and Morph!) and exhibits showing the process by which Aardman produce their animation, as well as their filmography. A tad disappointing not to see an exhibition on an actual Ghibli feature, but good fun nonetheless.
Afterward a I finally got to see Mei & The Kittenbus, a short film which can only be seen in the cinema within the Ghibli Museum. This is a shame as this is a great follow-up to My Neighbour Totoro everyone should see! The eight-minute short shows Mei going on an adventure not just with the Kittenbus, but also several other Catbuses, Cattrains and even a old double decker Catbus! Genius. Seeing the film with lots of kids in the audience was great to as it reminded you how enjoyable Ghibli films are. The cheer that went up when Totoro appeared is the loudest I have every heard in a cinema, even beating the cheer when people first saw the opening credits to Episode 1. It was that loud.
I walked up to the roof then where you can get a close-up look and a photo with the Laputa robot. It is massive and is a perfect statue to show off Hayao Miyazaki’s interest in technology. Also on the roof is a replica of a block from the floating island of Laputa in the film. More interesting then it sounds, trust me.
In The Straw Hat Cafe you can you purchase The Fruit Sandwich Of Your Dreams! This is what it is actually called on the menu and I didn’t realise I had a fruit sandwich of my dreams until I had one, it is strawberry, kiwi and peach with cream in white bread. Filling. Also the straw in the drink was an actual piece of straw! Awesome.
On into the Ghibli I go the Tales Of Earthsea soundtrack along with much other merchandise. I skipped a meal today so I could save some money.
Did a bit more shopping back in Ikebukero later in the day where I finally bought some Hard Gay pop-up pirate keyring (brilliant) and finally played House Of The Dead 4 with the uzis. Mucho fun. Also managed to reach Night Terror on Soul Calibur III and finally complete probably. The six floor arcade here is great, with machines from just 100 yen (about 60p) a go! Bargain. ^_^
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flo says:
Ooh Ghibli Studio are such role models.
Oct 05, 2006, 4:48 pmI would love to see the ticket with the cell you got : p
Thanks for sharing.
Hideki says:
Sounds like you are having a blast!
Love the sound of the fruit sandwich, they should do them over here!
Oct 05, 2006, 6:24 pm