Ghibli Museum and lots of Anime Boobs

Note: updated previous post with images.

Today I got up pretty early.  I didn`t get a great sleep as that Popeye turned out to be miserable.  It was 3 floors and the only bathroom was on the bottom floor, so when people would go up or down the stairs it would make a loud slapping noise because of the pleather slippers everyone gets.  On top of that the doors to the cubicles were extremely loud.  But I got up on time and headed out.  Mitaka is just west of where I was at and only took 10 minutes of walking and a 20 minute train ride to get there, picking up some baked goods at the train station for breakfast.

Mitaka is much quieter than Akihabara and Shinjuku, though most areas are.  Some of the houses seemed fairly large by Japanese standards.  The park that the Ghibli museum resides in was very pretty with lots of cherry blossoms.  A few people had blankets and chairs set out to absentmindedly watch the petals fall.  Lots were out playing tennis or running.  I got to the museum about 2 hours early and hung around just sitting and fiddling on my phone.  I grabbed a snack and coke at Lawsons.  I think it was the final Kara Age Chicken flavor I hadn`t tried yet, citrus, pretty good but lemons still better.

My 12 oclock appointment was now 15 hours away and I got in line.  They tell you no photos inside, and give you a very basic layout.  They also give you a ticket that you use to get entrance to the animated short in the movie theater there.  They have a new one every year and it only gets shown here.  On the ticket are 3 animation cells from a Ghibli movie.  Mine were from Howl`s Moving Castle.

The museum is set up somewhat like a sprawling cottage.  There are a couple spiral staircases, one that it unnecessary to get up, but the other is to get onto the roof where there`s a garden and a giant soldier from Laputa: Castle in the Sky.  The first floor has a permanent exhibition set up that shows the early days of motion pictures and is to give kids a better idea of how individual frames build up a picture, but there was a really cool setup that had models in layers in a ring around a pole.  It would spin and the lights would go out, but a strobe light going made it look like it was a pillar of moving models, very very cool.

Next I went to the movie.  it was a very cute animation that happily didn`t have words, as the ones that have in the past didn`t have subtitles or anything.  It was about a spider in a pond that pulls down bubbles of air from the surface to make its home in the water, and becomes enamored by an elegant waterstrider.

The 2nd floor had an exhibit showing how the process develops and concepts are fleshed out.  None of the info is in English but it did a great job of having interactive exhibits that you could see where it was going.  It showed how frames were colored and how using multiple layers of art and a scrolling machine to scan/photo them it could create movement or panning much easier.

There was a room with recommended books by Miyazaki, a room with a Cat Bus for kids that they could go inside of, a room with storyboard books for each picture you could flip through, a room of early sketches and designs, and finally the gift shop and cafe.  The cafe just had hotdogs and ice cream so I passed on it, but I checked out the gift shop.  Total I spent probably just an 1 1/2 hour looking in the museum, but it was very interesting, pretty, and only 9 bucks.

Only advice to anyone looking to do the same, book your ticket 2 months in advance the day and exact time they become available.  Its what I had to do to get a ticket at a good time (pre 6`o clock) and all the tickets sold out within a day.

While chilling I was trying to figure out what to do next.  I decided on moving areas in Tokyo and heading to Akihabara/Akasuka area, that is east metro vs west metro.  I somewhat figured out the train for it and missed my stop by one, but just walked back, it was only 20 minutes detour.  During that time I was starving and stopped at a Sukiya and this time got a Tuna Poke bowl.  Normally I`d be sketched out by fast food raw tuna for 6 bucks, but their other stuff was good and it is Japan.  It was really tasty, scarfed it out down with a little wasabi and soy saunce and continued.

Akihabara is the Anime Fan and Video Gamers paradise.  Its loaded with stores that span 8 floors of like
Basement: special deal stuff
1st floor: character statues
2nd floor: posters and keychains for the ladies, usually featuring hunky guy cartoons
3rd floor: robot and train models
4th floor: porn and dvds
5th floor: card games usually yugioh and idolmaster
6th floor: toys, featuring some american stuff
7th floor: Guest artist/anime thing event floor

And that was just one variation, I went in probably around 6 anime stores more or less like this.  Some had fewer floors like 3, but in those cases its usually a floor for lady comics and a porn floor off the main floor.

The video game stores were kind of meh for me.  There were 2 things I was looking for which were of course that Gameboy Light, but also Japan exclusive games for the Nintendo Switch, as thats a system that is region free and can play games regardless of what country your system is from.  No luck on the gameboy, switch had some interesting things like Taiko Drum Master and DOA 3 Xtreme Beach Volleyball, but that`s about it.

Started looking for a place to rest and recharge for a bit.  I had been in very crammed stores for a while.  Punched in Starbucks into my phone, but Lo, a KFC that had wifi in it.  Stopped at the KFC and got chicken sandwich I forgot the name of, but its a Japan only thing.  It reminded be of honey barbeque though, so it was fine.  Got to stay warm, take some asprin and sit for a bit.  Also I was trying to figure out my next couple nights stay.  I was checking out capsule hotels and they were booked for tonight, but one was free the next, so I booked a room for tomorrow night for around 30 bucks.   Tonight I picked another Popeye (to avoid having to register at another icafe and knowing their system).

Afterwards there were a few more stores I still wanted to look around in, there really is a ton to see in this area.  I wandered around and checked em out.  After I walked out of the last store it was raining pretty hard.  Shoot, I`d had pretty good luck so far.  I found some cover and put on my poncho, which I`ve failed to ever get it over my backpack, something funky happens and it just gets caught off of it.

I headed over to Popeye which was a 30 minute walk away.  As I got closer there were a couple companionship service places around, each with a pair of clean looking suited gentlemen, which I assumed to be Yakuza since they usually run the seedier establishments.  I got to the popeye, and signed up for a room.  So far my hopes are high.  The cubicles are easily more than twice the size of normal, its very clean.  Its been quiet so far.  I guess that`s what happens when you get away from the busy night areas.

Tomorrow there`s a lot I can do in this area, but I`m thinking the Tokyo Museum a short ways north.