Wednesday the 24th The Ghibli Museum

I had obtained vouchers in San francisco from JTB for the Ghibli Museum in Mitaka. We rose, did our morning walk, Cindy and Steven took pictures, and had breakfast before heading back to the ryokan to pick up our stuff and head to the train. Mitaka is West of the highly developed ku section of Tokyo. The buildings we saw from the train were not as closely packed and there were small orchards and farm plots here and there. If we had traveled further West we would have found ourselves in increasingly rural parts of Tokyo.

We decided to walk to the museum along a stream. Cindy and Steven took pictures of some interesting old trees and very large spiders at the center of webs that were built on several intersecting planes.

Once we reached the park where the museum is located we detoured slightly inside walking between old trees, past a racquet club and winding behind the museum to a side gate near the entrance.

Our voucher was checked and we were directed to a counter where we were given an English pamphlet and tickets to the theater. The tickets are nice each containing a four frame strip of film from a Ghibli anime.

After stowing our gear in a coin locker we headed in. The museum is designed for children, children of all ages, and several elements were for those who are very short. The craftsmanship of the details is delightful. Everything is made with a loving attention to detail, glass balls inside rail supports of a stairway, paintings on walls, beams, and ceiling. A large central open space to provide views of the different levels of the museum. Cindy was short enough to use a spiral staircase while steven and I had to use the regular stairway to the next level. At this point we became separated and it took more than just a few minutes to find each other again. In any case this was OK as the motto of the museum is "Let's Get Lost Together".

I won't go into detail, there is just so much in the museum that I don't have the time. Cindy and Steven could not take pictures inside, however we did get some outside.

If you ever get a chance to visit this museum do so, be sure to plan plenty of time to look around. After we left we walked back to the station and headed back to Asakusa and the ryokan, stopping for dinner after exiting the station, we had forgotten to eat lunch.