Japan Update #7 - Ghibli Museum

Sorry for the unintended break in posts! I managed to come down with a mild flu, which didn't stop me from sightseeing, but I've been suffering from total brain drain and a lack of energy which put my blog posting on the backburner. I'm back now, safely at home, but I'll continue with a few more Japan posts that I had prepared for you. I hope you're enjoying following along on our adventures, and I know some people are going to be really pleased with my post today - Studio Ghibli!

We visited the Museum last time we were in Tokyo, you can see my post here. I thought I'd share a slightly different perspective this time, as photographs are forbidden inside, there's not too much to share visually, aside from some teasers of the outside. The museum is one of those magical places that I think will be an essential part of any trip we make to Japan. I should warn any potential visitors that it's extremely difficult (impossible) for a foreigner to purchase tickets once they are in Japan, I think you need to always reserve ahead of time before you leave for your trip. If you're in Australia, I bought my tickets from JTB in Sydney, but I'm sure the Ghibli Museum site has a link for ticket sales.

The highlight is the theatre, where you get treated to a Ghibli short film. There's no knowing what the film will be when you visit, they are on a rotating schedule and each film is screened for a couple of weeks I believe. This time we saw "The Day I Harvested A Planet", it was such a great little film! Once again, C made a point to thank the projectionist who is an adorable old man, and he was so thrilled that we thanked him again - I think he actually remembered us from last time! It was so cool seeing the huge grin on his face as he enthusiastically shook our hands :)

Having a nanna rest - stupid flu

 The museum itself has a whole section dedicated to Miyazaki, recreating his work space, complete with piled books on the floor, animation cells and research materials. There are walls filled to overflowing with sketches from Ghibli films and character studies. You can flick through reference books and explore the thought processes of the creators and animators. On top of that, there is a temporary exhibition, which on this visit, was all about optics. There were demonstrations of pinhole cameras, lenses and even some periscopes to peek at adorable critters in a forest installation.

 On the ground floor, there is an entire room dedicated to animation, with interactive installations that show how animation works. My favourite is probably the zoetrope, which contains many miniatures of the characters from My Neighbour Totoro. As the device rotates at high speed, a light flashes and with the perfect speed, the static models come to live, it is really quite magical to watch!

The museum itself is really fun architecturally, with many little nooks and crannies to explore and get lost in. There are even two gift stores, one dedicated to books and a much more crazy one with people everywhere, filled with Ghibli memorabilia, toys, buttons, posters, you name it. We never leave empty handed.

I hope you enjoyed finding out more about the Ghibli Museum, if you've never been before, I think it's a really fun place to visit if you ever go to Tokyo.

Dress // Dear Creatures via Emerging Thoughts

Strawberry Belt // Thrifted (Sydney, Australia)

Harajuku Bow Necklace // c/o Under The Shade of a Bonsai Tree

Fox Ring // Sea of Bees via Emerging Thoughts

Cat tights // Tokyo

Crochet Socks // Tokyo

Jacket // Saxony

Boots // Bennis by Modern Vice

Cherry Earrings // Tokyo

Button on jacket // Thrifted (Alabama, USA)

Kitty

xo

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Japan Update #6 - Shimokitazawa

The morning before we visited the Parasite Museum, C took me out to a neighbourhood in Tokyo called Shimokitazawa. It's kind of like a laid-back Harajuku. It's popular with students and young people and there are tonnes of handmade and vintage shops scattered around. The entire suburb has the feeling of a market town, with narrow laneways and tiny nooks full of interesting bits and pieces.

After scoring some neat handmade goodies, we made our way to the Village Vanguard diner for lunch. Village Vanguard bills itself as "an exciting bookstore", which I guess it is. It's full of books, yes, but also novelty items, souvenirs, toy cameras, homewares, Americana, stationary and so much more. You can easily walk out of there with something under 100¥ (around $1) if you are on a tight budget.

It's a fairly dizzying experience wandering through the tightly packed store, I think you could spend an entire day inside and not see every little item they have stashed away. There are lots of Village Vanguards around Tokyo, but the one in Shimokitazawa is the first :)

The diner was pretty fun, too. We tucked into some burgers and onion rings in fairly standard diner surroundings, which is a bit of a novelty in Japan.

If you're ever in Japan and need a quirky gift for someone (or yourself), definitely pay a visit to a Village Vanguard, you won't leave empty handed!

Polka Dot Blouse // c/o Oasap

Black Velvet Skirt // c/o Oasap

Cardigan // Dangerfield

Cat Tights // Tokyo, Japan

Black Booties // Benni by Modern Vice

Harajuku Bow Necklace // c/o Under The Shade of a Bonsai Tree

Cherry Earrings // Ruby Rose, Tokyo

Camera Bag // Betsy by Jo Totes

Kitty
xo

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Japan Update #5 - What I Wore to The Parasite Museum

Just another average day in Tokyo, with a visit to the famous Parasite Museum. Apparently it's a popular place for a date, and I did indeed witness some smitten couples checking out the tapeworm. I love you, Japan.

I'll share more photos of my outfit tomorrow, but for now, I hope you enjoy the parasites! - This is me demonstrating the actual length of the 8.8m tapeworm which is the pride of the museum's collection.

Polka Dot Blouse // c/o Oasap

Black Velvet Skirt // c/o Oasap

Cardigan // Dangerfield

Cat Tights // Tokyo, Japan

Black Booties // Benni by Modern Vice

Harajuku Bow Necklace // c/o Under The Shade of a Bonsai Tree

Cherry Earrings // Ruby Rose, Tokyo

Camera Bag // Betsy by Jo Totes

Kitty
xo

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Japan Update #4 That One Time Golden Gai Got Us.

In Shinjuku, there is a famous area that is a collection of tiny bars called Golden Gai. It's a peek into how Tokyo used to be pre-WWII and is popular with locals and tourists alike. It's pretty easy to spot the 'gaijin-friendly' bars, they're generally loud and full of drunk Australians, English and Americans, with a few Europeans thrown in for good measure. Most bars in this area seat between 3 and 10 patrons and have a theme. We spotted a 'neko' bar, with it's very own resident cat inside, various music genre-themed bars and even a medical experiments themed bar. We had a friend who said we should try this anime-themed bar, where many anime industry people come after to work to blow off some steam.

As you can see, the buildings are quite, er, adventurous  This narrow staircase featured a handrail, though it was resting on the stairs, having fallen off long ago. Our barman was an excitable guy, and his menu included one item: "Special Cocktail". We ordered our special cocktails and once they were done, he got back to his Monster Hunter game.

I think there were 7 seats inside our bar, and you couldn't have crammed one extra person inside. Inside was brightly lit, with a collage of small whiteboards papering the wall behind the bar, each with an autograph and often a drawing by famous anime artist visitors. All along the bar were posed figurines, all unrecognisable to my untrained eyes, aside from the Evangelion one!

It was an extremely expensive experience, but pretty fun. Have you been to Golden Gai? I'd love to know of any recommendations, if you have!

Kitty
xo

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Japan Update #3 - Arcades, Vintage and Tokyu Hands

These are just a few snapshots from our wanderings around Shinjuku, where we are staying, and Shibuya, which is a very busy shopping area in Tokyo. There's a chain of stores called Mandarake, they are definitely the home of the Otaku. In case you're not familiar with Otaku, it's a Japanese word for "nerd" at the simplest translation. But I think a better description of an Otaku would be one who is obsessively interested in a very particular topic. Often it's a particular manga, which is sold in Madarake, but you can be Otaku about anything I think. We met a "Tenchi Muyo Otaku" in Kyoto, and there are military Otaku, doll otaku, and probably any other otaku that you can think of. This Manadarake store had the most amazing entrance, I'm pretty sure really dark stairs with disorienting strobe lights would not be possible in Australia, or America, due to "health and safety". Bor-ring! Japan, you rock :) 

So many shops and cafes here are all jazzed up for Halloween, and this arcade has tonnes of fun Halloween games going on. We played Taiko Drumming, of course (I'll try to make a video for you). Upstairs, we discovered a whole floor of Kawaii photo booths. It seems like you can get dressed in the costumes they have, and then have your photo taken. But it looks like it's just for girls. I'll investigate further and hopefully take some pictures in there! In the meantime, enjoy this instructional poster:

We made a brief exploration in Tokyu Hands, which is a crafting supplies shop (and more). I quite enjoyed the 'wood' floor, as you can see. It's built in this weird configuration with half-floors, which just reminds me of "Being John Malkovich". I think we made it up to the 3 1/2 floor, so I have to go back, I think there is something like 8 floors (x2).

So much vintage shopping...

Kitty
xo

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