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| Ghibli Museum |
Ghibli Museum is located inside Inokashira Park (井の頭恩賜公園) in the city of Mitaka. (三鷹市) It features Japanese animation works of Studio Ghibli led by Hayao Miyazaki (宮崎駿). It takes about 15 minutes riding the JR Chūō Line (Rapid) (中央線快速) from Shinjuku station to Mitaka station (三鷹駅). After arriving at Mitaka station, we went to the south exit and found the stair case going down to the bus stop where the city bus (The Yellow Bus) departs from. This yellow city bus runs in a loop around Mitaka city and it can also take us to the museum. We purchased the discounted 2-way tickets beside the bus stop so we can take the same bus back to the station later. It took only about 5 minutes to ride this bus to the museum. We went in during the first session (10:00 a.m. – 12:00 p.m.) on a Sunday morning; there was already a long line-up around the museum about 15 minutes before the entrance time. We had to wait outside in the sun and slowly move our way up to the entrance.
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| Mitaka City Bus (Yellow Bus) |
Starting from the 90’s, I have watched many animated films directed by this famous artist, Hayao Miyazaki. Some of his popular master pieces includes Nausicaä: The Valley Of The Wind (風の谷のナウシカ), Castle in the Sky (天空の城ラピュタ), My Neighbor Totoro (となりのトトロ / 龍貓), Kiki's Delivery Service (魔女の宅急便), Porco Rosso (紅の豚), Princess Mononoke (もののけ姫), Spirited Away(千と千尋の神隠し), Howl's Moving Castle (ハウルの動く城 / 哈爾移動城堡) and Ponyo (崖の上のポニョ / 崖上的波妞). My favorite film among them is My Neighbor Totoro. I was attracted not only by the adorable characters and images, but also by the imaginary and mysterious world created inside the story. Also not to be missed is its heart-warming and touching music.
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| Decorations around Ghibli Museum |
Ghibli Museum has 3 floors and decorated precisely with details from various films. The 1st floor has an exhibit on the history and techniques of animation as well as a small theater which shows Studio Ghibli’s short films that are exclusive to the museum. The title of the films changes from time to time. During the time of our visit, it was featuring a film called “ちゅうずもう”. It has a story about an elderly couple who live in the mountains trying to help their house mice win a wrestling battle with the rats. There was no dialog during this entire film, but you would still be able to completely understand what is going on. The 2nd floor houses special exhibits that change yearly. This time we saw the first phase of “Welcome to the Saturn Theater - The Ghibli Forest Film Exhibition”. In this exhibit, there are three-dimensional displays of the animated short films that are featured in the Special Exhibit Room. There are also rooms which mimic the working stations of the artist and filled with illustrations and actual sketches of the films. The 3rd floor has a gift shop where you can find lots of pretty souvenirs (of course, we kept them for ourselves rather than giving them away). Also, there is the “Cat Bus” playroom where only kids under 12 can go in. If you are a fan of the film, My Neighbor Totoro, you would wish you were five and throw yourself into this Cat Bus amongst the many other toddlers. Near this room, you can find an exit to the Terrace area and continue through a spiral stairway to go up to the top of the roof. The roof is actually a gardened area where a 5 meter tall Robot Soldier (from “Laputa Castle in the Sky”) can be found.
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| Spiral stairway leading to the roof with the Robot Soldier |
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| Scenery from Kiki's Delivery Service (魔女の宅急便,) |
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| Stamps bought from the gift shop |
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| Coin Storage bought from the gift shop |
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| Inside the coin storage |
There is one very important thing to notice if you are interested to visit the Ghibli Museum. The entrance ticket must be purchased ahead of time. This museum does not accept immediate entrance by cash. If you lived oversea like us, you can go through the museum’s proper ticketing agents in your country (listed on the website) to get the ticket ahead of your trip. However, you must specify the date you are visiting. Upon entrance of the museum, you can then get the entrance tickets by providing the staff with your purchase receipt. If you wish to buy ticket after you have arrived Japan, you can purchase them through ticket machines in any Lawson convenience stores. However, I think these machines only have Japanese display and there is no guarantee if the tickets are still available for the date you wish to visit.
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| Various flavoured Inari-zush |
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| Inari-zushi & soft drinks |
We spent about 2 hours to tour the whole museum. After that, we took the same yellow city bus back to Mitaka station. There is some food available in the station and we have picked up a pack of various flavoured Inari-zushi (fried bean-curd stuffed with rice) from a specialty shop. This pack of Inari-zushi is the best I have tasted so far. The tofu skin and the rice are all flavoured differently. Although I am not sure what each of the flavours were, they were all so good. We had this along with some seasonal soft drinks as snacks before heading to Roppongi later in the afternoon.
Reference Link:
Ghibli Museum
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