It may have been miserable, cold and rainy yesterday, but we had sunshine in our hearts. Who could not, when your day includes a visit to the Ghibli Museum? The museum was designed by Hayao Miyazaki, and reflects the attention to detail that you can see in all of his anime classics. If you are unfamiliar with Miazaki's work, I suggest you rent a copy of My Neighbor Totoro and watch it (the Girlie recommends the subtitled version every time) immediately.
We took the train to Mitaka Station and waited for the bus at stop #9.
Pretty soon, the special yellow bus came for us.
In short order, the bus deposited us at the museum.
Darlings, who wouldn't love a museum where Totoro is waiting for you in the ticket office?
It's a charming building.
As you can see.
And that, my friends, is the extent of my photos. Photographs are not allowed inside the museum, and with my big DSLR there's just no surreptitious photography possible. So we put our umbrellas in the rack and our bags in a locker, which left us free to roam the place unencumbered. Despite the crowds (with TONS of little kids) this was an inspiring experience. I really liked the permanent exhibits that show Miyazaki's studio environment, where original watercolor studies, storyboards and sketches are thumbtacked to the walls. You go through the whole process of animation, right through the painting of the cells and how they are photographed. Really, really inspiring.
But that's not all. The museum's restaurant is excellent, even if you have to wait an hour like we did (though I did wish for the knitting project that was in my bag in the locker). The portions are generous and the food is fresh and tasty. We both ate the grilled chicken breast with pilaf. The pilaf was full of veggies: lotus root, sweet potato, onion, carrot, and mushrooms - very generous with the mushrooms. My, oh my that was delicious. And then on to the amazing desserts. The Girlie had talked up the strawberry shortcake (which was tall) and so that's what she had. I had the (warm) apple tart, which was scrumptious, and I'll try to duplicate it when I get home.
A rather soggy walk through Mitaka Inokashira Park led us to Kichijoji, a little late to really do the craft-supply-shop tour we'd intended. But the Girlie was really keen to show me a special yarn shop she'd discovered. Avril turns out to be just my cup of tea. It's the parent company of Habu, yes that Habu. I knew I recognized the yarns, but it wasn't until I saw Avril's website that I was certain. I didn't really buy anything, but we're planning on going back to Kichijoji on Friday and I have already made my list of things to ask about.
Our final stop was Yuzawaya, a multi-story craft supply emporium. Bright lights, tons of stuff - cool stuff - I would think under the most conducive of circumstances this store would be OVERWHELMING. I knew it would be, but it's worse that Best Buy or Costco because I WANT TO BUY SO MUCH THAT I DON'T KNOW WHERE TO START (think Michael's plus Joann's on steroids). All I bought a was a basic knitting and crochet book that shows in photos what a particular symbol on a Japanese pattern chart is directing you to do. Highly recommended by the Girlie. And I think we will be going back to Yuzawaya again, too, when it's not the end of the day.
