Chapter 836: The Ghibli Museum (三鷹の森ジブリ美術館)

The Ghibli Museum (三鷹の森ジブリ美術館)

This was the last point of interest on the Ghibli tour I went on last year May. Saving the best for last. Upon entering the museum we were told photography is not permitted inside, for copyright reasons of course. One of the things that I found was, the museum isn’t as big as I thought. Quite packed with visitors and lining up took forever for a hot dog on the day.

Ghibli is one of Japan’s most famous and popular anime studios and this Museum features all the art from the great Miyazaki Hayao, such as well known titles like: Ponyo, My Neighbor Totoro, Spirited Away and Princess Mononoke. The museum is located in Mitaka, west from Tokyo. The most impressive part of the trip was definitely the gigantic life-sized robot statue which is from the anime: Castle in the Sky (天空の城ラピュタ). Pretty epic!! You can got up close and touch it on the rooftop garden.

I made sure to line up for the theatre showing. Each short showing is exclusive to the museum. The one I watched was about a group of young kids playing in the classroom as they let their imagination let loose. They built a boat, and met a whale. Depending on when you go, it will be a different show so you really just don’t know what you’ll get.

There’s also a small gift shop, I bought 2 tees! The blue one, I actually have yet to wear and even kept the tag. The grey one is more subtle so on a casual warm day I can wear this out and even into the office and no on has noticed that it has Totoro on it. I tend to buy a lot of tees, it’s my favourite kind of souvenir.

My visit was a wonderful one. For Ghibli fans it’s like a mini heaven!

—Tofu