A Trip to Japan: the Ghibli Museum
Jun. 25th, 2023 05:23 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
jennariaI don't have nearly as many photos of this, for two reasons: first, they don't allow photos inside the museum. Second, the day we went, it was bucketing rain outdoors, so our desire to linger outside (where photos are allowed) and take photos was, shall we say, minimal.
My best photo of the outside of the museum. If you think you see Totoro through a window: you're probably right! (Also, if you think you see streaks of water...well, I did mention it was pouring rain.)
The stained glass on the windows of the doors leading in. They had lots of stained glass, actually, with a variety of images: this one was Totoro, but I saw every single Miyazaki film represented through the museum.
So: once inside!
The Ghibli Museum is stupid popular. Like, they release tickets for the next month on the 10th of the previous month at 10 AM and consistently sell out, popular. (Wife and I organized a few friends to sit on the website - hooray for a twelve-hour time difference - and get into the virtual line, which is how we got tickets.)
From our experience? The popularity and demand are absolutely well deserved. You could explore the museum for hours and still find new details. On the first floor is an exhibit on How Animation Works, which includes a giant zoetrope of Ghibli characters whirling around a giant Totoro tree, and sitting there and watching that was the first time I heard someone say "Sugoi!" in real life.
There's also an exclusive short film (~10 minutes), which you are only allowed to watch once, because otherwise they're reasonably afraid that people would sit in there and just watch the film over and over again, and not everyone would be able to see it. Our short film was a Totoro short featuring a Kitten Bus and a slightly older Mei, which was stupid adorable and yes I absolutely would have sat in there and watched it over and over. But there's also something like four or five other short films also in rotation, so it's equally possible that each group coming in sees a different film.
Upstairs on the second floor is what the animation studio drawing space supposedly looks (looked?) like, which is absolutely the sort of glorious chaos that you would want Studio Ghibli to look like - the walls covered with reference photographs for places or clothing (mostly but not exclusively for CASTLE IN THE SKY and KIKI'S DELIVERY SERVICE), cabinets full of nick-nacks and models, comfortable-looking chairs and desks and windows that look out at the trees surrounding the museum. Fascinating, but also kinda a time capsule, and not just in the sense of all pencils and paper, no computers: there are a few storyboards from SPIRITED AWAY, or PONYO, but the vast majority of everything dates from the time the museum opened, before ever PRINCESS MONONOKE made it big.
The gift shop carries through with that. You want Totoro? They have Totoro coming out their ears! You want Princess Mononoke, or Spirited Away, or Howl's Moving Castle? Your options are, uh, more limited. No plush Haku, only plush Kaonashi, which I find vastly wrong - there should be all the plush dragons, dammit.
In summary: absolutely worth the trip (even with the rain, and having to stand in a virtual line to get tickets)! But manage your expectations, and don't expect your more recent favorites.
My best photo of the outside of the museum. If you think you see Totoro through a window: you're probably right! (Also, if you think you see streaks of water...well, I did mention it was pouring rain.)
The stained glass on the windows of the doors leading in. They had lots of stained glass, actually, with a variety of images: this one was Totoro, but I saw every single Miyazaki film represented through the museum.
So: once inside!
The Ghibli Museum is stupid popular. Like, they release tickets for the next month on the 10th of the previous month at 10 AM and consistently sell out, popular. (Wife and I organized a few friends to sit on the website - hooray for a twelve-hour time difference - and get into the virtual line, which is how we got tickets.)
From our experience? The popularity and demand are absolutely well deserved. You could explore the museum for hours and still find new details. On the first floor is an exhibit on How Animation Works, which includes a giant zoetrope of Ghibli characters whirling around a giant Totoro tree, and sitting there and watching that was the first time I heard someone say "Sugoi!" in real life.
There's also an exclusive short film (~10 minutes), which you are only allowed to watch once, because otherwise they're reasonably afraid that people would sit in there and just watch the film over and over again, and not everyone would be able to see it. Our short film was a Totoro short featuring a Kitten Bus and a slightly older Mei, which was stupid adorable and yes I absolutely would have sat in there and watched it over and over. But there's also something like four or five other short films also in rotation, so it's equally possible that each group coming in sees a different film.
Upstairs on the second floor is what the animation studio drawing space supposedly looks (looked?) like, which is absolutely the sort of glorious chaos that you would want Studio Ghibli to look like - the walls covered with reference photographs for places or clothing (mostly but not exclusively for CASTLE IN THE SKY and KIKI'S DELIVERY SERVICE), cabinets full of nick-nacks and models, comfortable-looking chairs and desks and windows that look out at the trees surrounding the museum. Fascinating, but also kinda a time capsule, and not just in the sense of all pencils and paper, no computers: there are a few storyboards from SPIRITED AWAY, or PONYO, but the vast majority of everything dates from the time the museum opened, before ever PRINCESS MONONOKE made it big.
The gift shop carries through with that. You want Totoro? They have Totoro coming out their ears! You want Princess Mononoke, or Spirited Away, or Howl's Moving Castle? Your options are, uh, more limited. No plush Haku, only plush Kaonashi, which I find vastly wrong - there should be all the plush dragons, dammit.
In summary: absolutely worth the trip (even with the rain, and having to stand in a virtual line to get tickets)! But manage your expectations, and don't expect your more recent favorites.