Another trip to Tokyo Midtown for coffee – excellent and expensive as always. Then it was off to the much anticipated Studio Ghibli Museum. If the hassle of getting museum tickets about 6 months ago online in any way compared to the actual experience of the museum itself – then we were in for a massive day. And so it was. We jumped on the bright yellow Studio Ghibli bus at Mitaka station and joined the queue to get in. The museum was lovely – cute, dare I say it – whimsical and packed to the rafters with geeks from around the world. The Cat Bus room was excellent, as was the room which recreated Miyazaki office space etc. But by far my favourite was the Kiosk which sold exclusive Studio Ghibli Pale Ale. We ended our visit with a viewing of an exclusive Ghibli short film about an egg person and a bone dough creature who become friends and escape from an evil flying grandma.
Later we trekked over to Tokyo hipster ground zero – the suburb of Shimo-Akitazawa. Laneways, shops, vintage clothing stores, bars, barbers, record stores. All very chaotic and very cool. Dinner was amazing – cheap Red Snapper Ramen at Norisoba Salt – light, clean and delicious – and beer. Even later we made it to a top floor bar that played only 80s Japanese disco music – on vinyl of course. Just time then for a Uniqlo run and home to collapse.
flyeelookee 