The guys at the counter here. The first night, I paid ahead of time. Maybe because it was after a certain time? Then this morning I didn't have to pay ahead of time, but they did ask how long I was planning on staying. NOW, they even had to bust out their English because they were totally confusing me by requiring neither of those things. At least I'm blogging to you.
So I went to a lesser "beef bawl" [sic] branch for breakfast, because it was open. Turns out I make a damned tasty gyuudon at home, but of course, it's still sort of novel to eat it in Japan at a counter at 8 am after buying a ticket from the vending machine.
After that it was off to Shinjuku station to find my way to Mitaka where the Ghibli Museum is located. I actually did ok, although I made that all too frequent error (do I never learn?) of not knowing the kanji for the place I'm going before I go there. So on the way I paid double fare >_< At least I was sorted for the way back, and even managed to find the express route. And this was during rush hour on a Monday, so...I count this as satisfactory for a first train outing.
The Museum itself was pretty terrific. I realized as soon as I got there that almost more fun than the exhibits themselves would be watching all the tiny children's reactions to them. You're not allowed to take any pictures inside, but I snapped a couple of the outside, so you can at least see the building. They'll appear on facebook later, I suppose...
I think my favorite part of the museum despite purposely quaint and charming rooms wallpapered with original sketches, explanations of the animation process hand-scrawled with cartoon illustrations, painted cells, story boards, etc. AND a big plush Cat Bus for kids to go nuts in and climb all over AND the animated short (which appears to rotate seasonally--we saw "Mei and the Kitten Bus," which was pretty adorable and entailed Mei feeding caramels to a whole family of Cat Bus characters and having a happy reunion with Totoro)--so yeah, despite all that my favorite part was actually one of the first things we saw.
The very first room has a bunch of different examples of how animation works. There are zoetropes and reels of film with explanations how everything evolved, but the coolest coolest thing is this huge, I guess sort of like a 3-D zoetrope almost, with various figurines mid-way through their actions. Mei and Totoro jump up and down, for example. When a motor cranks it up to full speed and a strobe light flashes, it looks like claymation, only right in front of you. I could've watched that thing all day.
But I didn't! I had some tea on the terrace and watched a zillion kids eat hot dogs and ice cream before heading back to the train. I'm glad I hit the gift shop first thing, or I would've been in line for hours, I bet. The place was a complete zoo, and on a Monday! No wonder you have to buy tickets in advance.
Before stopping off at the hotel, I went back to the donut shop in Shinjuku station. Do you remember the pic I took of their advertisement last year? I decided I should take the plunge this time. I picked up a green tea and red bean bagel for tomorrow's breakfast, but as a dessertful snack (if only I still had that tea!) I chose one of their "early summer donuts--" Blood Orange and Lemon. It was GINORMOUS (pic forthcoming). Didn't even try to eat it all, but it was delicious. I'm not always into light citrusy sweets, but this glaze really worked.
Touched base with Yukiko Shirai, my host mom from last year. She's going to pick me up at the hotel tonight at 7 and I'll go have dinner with Toru and her at their house. Sounds like a plan, but what I'm going to get up to until then, I have no idea. It's only 2, so I definitely have time to go somewhere. Just not sure where, since I'm not too hungry and I can't really shop ;D
It's too bad it's so rainy. It's not motivating me much, and I'm sleepy ;p Shouldnn't have let myself get out of bed before 8!! Oh well, I'll come up with something.
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