My Birthday In Japan – February 18th

Today, we woke up to a beautiful ray of sunshine, streaming through the window of our fourth-floor hostel room. When we looked out, we could see the Tokyo Skytree standing strong in the distance. It’s the tallest man made structure in Japan, functioning as both an observation tower and broadcasting station. John took a tour of it yesterday, while I visited the Ghibli Museum in Mitaka as a birthday present to myself.

As stated on the Ghibli Museum’s official website, “Tickets become available for purchase at 10 a.m. (JST) on the 10th of each month for the subsequent month.” Unfortunately tickets sell out hours after the ticket portal opens. So as a loophole for unplanned travelers, the Willer Travel Company offers a tour from Kichijōji Station to the museum, with admission included. The tour costs 5,500 yen, instead of the standard 1,000 yen admission for adults. It was worth it though! An adorably small Japanese tour guide took us on an educational jaunt around the park, stopping at different temples and historical landmarks along the way. She was so small that she brought a collapsible metal pole with a giraffe stuffy tied to the end, to mark where she was at all times.

 

The museum was on the smaller side, with one main building and a cafe. Your ticket includes a framed strip of film reel, that grants access to the Saturn Theater. Here, exclusive Studio Ghibli short films are shown that you can’t see anywhere else (unless it’s bootlegged on YouTube). Nestled in the lower level of the museum, this cosy 80 seat theater runs its films every 15 minutes. Hand-painted windows (that are so realistic that I had to do a double-take) dot the walls, giving the illusion of sunlight streaming in. For the real windows, when it’s time to dim the lights automated window covers slowly rise, plunging the theater into darkness. Right now until February 28th, Mei and the Baby Cat Bus is playing. It’s a short sequel of sorts to My Neighbor Totoro. It was such a cute movie. I won’t give anything away other than… there are different sized cat buses!!

 

The rest of the museum focuses on Hayao Miyazaki’s art and the movie-making process. Many of the rooms are recreations of Hayao Miyazaki’s work spaces. As Miyazaki himself said of the museum:

This is the Kind of Museum I Want to Make!

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A museum that is interesting and which relaxes the soul
A museum where much can be discovered
A museum based on a clear and consistent philosophy
A museum where those seeking enjoyment can enjoy, 
those seeking to ponder can ponder, and those seeking to feel can feel
A museum that makes you feel more enriched 
when you leave than when you entered!

To make such a museum, the building must be…
Put together as if it were a film
Not arrogant, magnificent, flamboyant, or suffocating
Quality space where people can feel at home, 
especially when it’s not crowded
A building that has a warm feel and touch
A building where the breeze and sunlight can freely flow through

The museum must be run in such a way that…
Small children are treated as if they were grown-ups
Visitors with disabilities are accommodated as much as possible
The staff can be confident and proud of their work
Visitors are not controlled with predetermined courses and fixed directions
It is suffused with ideas and new challenges 
so that the exhibits do not get dusty or old, 
and that investments are made to realize that goal

The displays will be…
Not only for the benefit of people who are already fans of Studio Ghibli
Not a procession of artwork from past Ghibli films 
as if it were “a museum of the past”
A place where visitors can enjoy by just looking, 
can understand the artists’ spirits, 
and can gain new insights into animation

Original works and pictures will be made to be exhibited at the museum
A project room and an exhibit room will be made, showing movement and life
(Original short films will be produced to be released in the museum!)
Ghibli’s past films will be probed for understanding at a deeper level

The café will be…
An important place for relaxation and enjoyment
A place that doesn’t underestimate the difficulties of running a museum café
A good café with a style all its own 
where running a café is taken seriously and done right

The museum shop will be… 
Well-prepared and well-presented 
for the sake of the visitors and running the museum
Not a bargain shop that attaches importance 
only to the amount of sales
A shop that continues to strive to be a better shop
Where original items made only for the museum are found

The museum’s relation to the park is… 
Not just about caring for the plants and surrounding greenery 
but also planning for how things can improve ten years into the future
Seeking a way of being and running the museum 
so that the surrounding park will become even lusher and better, 
which will in turn make the museum better as well!

This is what I expect the museum to be, 
and therefore I will find a way to do it 

This is the kind of museum I don’t want to make! 
A pretentious museum
An arrogant museum
A museum that treats its contents 
as if they were more important than people
A museum that displays uninteresting works as if they were significant

Hayao Miyazaki
Executive Director
Ghibli Museum, Mitaka

Overall, I think he helped create a museum that meets his mission well. One of my favorite things about this museum was getting to see the behind the scenes evolution of Studio Ghibli characters that I love. For example, Kiki from Kiki’s Delivery Service has short black hair and a dark blue dress. But in some earlier designs, she had bright orange hair tied in pigtails with bright pink bows. When watching the movie, you’ll notice there is a witch with bright orange hair tied up in pigtails… I like to think she’s a nod to one of Kiki’s earlier versions.

 

The walls of three exhibits were covered (from floor to ceiling) in drawings, paintings, sketches of characters, scenes, and things that never made it to the screen. You could spend hours looking at all of the magic in the rooms, and not notice everything. Not only was the art amazing, but the room recreations themselves were visually enticing. From eccentric books on fanciful fish, to a felted Totoro doll on a string, to a personal heater, the rooms were packed with an eclectic array of items – it felt like you were within one of Miyazaki’s films yourself!

 

In one room, there was a machine once used to visualize animated scenes in pre-production. Though I didn’t write down the name of it, the entire unit was taller than me, encased in glass, with a conveyor belt and a scope. Miyazaki would place a painted background on the conveyor belt, which could be moved manually with a crank. Then, he’d layer painted cels with characters or objects, on top. By adjusting the scope and cranking the conveyor belt, he could watch how the characters moved across the scene. For example, there was a beautiful landscape painting on the conveyor belt, with a hot air balloon cel placed on top. When I cranked the conveyor belt and looked through the scope, it looked like the hot air balloon was moving across the countryside. Machines like these were used in traditional cel animation. If you love early technology and art, trying this out would be right up your alley.

 

While I was walking through the exhibits, I kept reflecting on this: there is something so beautiful about people who can take the images/ideas from their head and capture them on paper, exactly as they see them. I mean, the way Hayao Miyazaki can use simple pen sketches to convey complex emotions in characters’ faces… it’s unreal. Disgust, rage, slight annoyance, it was all there on pen and paper, in what looked like a five minute doodle. Seeing different angles of characters to enhance their design – top down, side, back views – was also a highlight. To me, the ability to create and bring to life art like that is a form of magic. I’m so happy I got to see this museum.

 

Then, for my actual birthday, we packed up our things and went to a cute Airbnb, 7 Rooms Hotel & Cafe. As the name suggests there’s a cafe, 7 hotel rooms, and a cute little flower shop all mixed into one. Best of all, the room had a washer/dryer combination! We really needed to do laundry before our Vietnam flight the next day.

 

Wanting to have a lower-key day before our flight, we didn’t stray too far from the hotel. We borrowed some badminton equipment, and played for a bit in the park across the road. For dinner, we went to a kaitenzushi place. Unlike in American conveyor belt sushi restaurants, the shop is completely automated. Once you get there, you take a ticket and choose a booth. To order, you make your selections on iPad stationed at your table. Your order is brought to you via an express lane conveyor belt, straight from the kitchen. There is also a regular conveyor belt that rotates sushi around the restaurant, at a slower pace. Any empty plates you have slide through a window at the end of your table. This window automatically counts them and adds them to your bill. When you are done, you go to the checkout machine and pay. A worker did run up to the machine after us to make sure we paid, cause you know, foreigners.

 

All in all it was a great birthday. We are a little sad to be leaving Japan, as we’ve gotten used to the hustle and bustle of everything. But, on to Vietnam!

 

-W