Ghibli Museum

You may have never heard of “Studio Ghibli” but if you are even remotely interested in Japanese animation you must have watched “Spirited Away” (which won an Oscar), “Howl’s Moving Castle” or “My Neighbor Totoro” – all considered to be extremely good examples of the genre. Well, all of these gems were produced by the same company – “Studio Ghibli” or “スタジオジブリ”.  This animation studio has a museum in Mitaka which hosts a lot of sketches done in preparation or during the production of their animation masterpieces. I got a chance to visit the place for the first time after spending almost 18 months here – something I should have done much much earlier. Unfortunately photography is not allowed inside but as you can see from the little metal cover on the floor in the garden there are a lot of interesting things outside too.

There  are so many interesting things inside other than the drawings.  Even the ticket that you get inside, for admittance to the movie theatre (which happens to show a special 12 min animation only shown at the museum), is made of a part of a film strip from one of the animations (though I also heard they can be from Pixar movies as well since there is some sort of agreement between Pixar and Ghibli). They even sell little set-ups that let you inspect the films closer. This is one of the two pictures I managed to take inside before I was (very politely) told off by the nice lady inside. You can kinda see the ticket inside and the magnifying glass on the side. There are a lot of models based on the animation characters, some of which actually move. One particularly amazing setup involves many little models from Totoro looking like they are dancing around thanks to strobe lighting. There are two stores in the museum as well, one selling primarily books and the other one all sorts of related merchandise from Totoro earrings to jackets with the museum coat of arms. On the second floor there is even a full sized cat-bus from the Totoro movie though unfortunately only elementary school students or younger are allowed inside the fluffy vehicle.

The second floor opens to a garden outside and through some more stairs one reaches the towering statue of the robot from “Castle in the Sky”. Saying that it is life-sized would be doing it a disservice. The thing is huge and extremely detailed, just like all the other things in the museum. If you follow the little walkway in the back you can end up by an extremely detailed cube statue with writings which is also from the same movie. It is definitely a photo-op for everyone. Oh, and there happens to be at least one (though I suspect two now) cafe in the museum. Next time I go I will be sure to check it out.

Are you a foreigner working in Japan? Get your 12,000円!

OK, so it is not a whole lot of money (about $125 as of now) but hey, it is still something. The Japanese Government has sent out “Supplementary Income Payment Announcement”s. I am posting a picture of what I got which came from the Mitaka City Hall so your version will vary.  It looks like anyone between the ages of 18 and 65 who are “alien registration card holders who are registered as of February 1st” can file a claim for 12,000 yen while card holders who are younger or older can claim 20,000 yen. The amount is automatically deposited to your bank account within a month and they ask you to attach a photocopy of your documents proving your status (alien registration card or passport for example) as well as something to give information about your bank, for example a photocopy of your cash card. The window for submissions opened on the first of April and it will stay open until October so there is definitely a decent amount of time to prepare. I already filed mine though since the process is pretty simple assuming you can decode the form. Unfortunately the whole application form is in Japanese so you might need some help (Thank you Momoe :)).

On an unrelated note, can you see the little Poki character in the forms? It is by Studio Ghibli and it was given to Mitaka City as its mascot (Ghibli Museum is in Mitaka after all…). I don’t think I have ever seen a mascot character on a government form before. These tend to be really serious affairs in the US and even though the Japanese government is just as strict with respect to the bureaucratic process they do keep things more… lively… I like it ;)

I watched the new Miyazaki movie! (ポーニョ)

This week marked the end of the rainy season and today was the day that Japanese people traditionally have eel (unagi/うなぎ). The company cafeteria acted accordingly and offered eel over a (albeit soggy) bed of rice. The highlight though came at night - I got to watch an early screening of the new Miyazaki movie - 崖の上のポーニョ or literally "Ponyo on a Cliff" at Roppongi Hills. I thoroughly recommend it to anyone who enjoyed Miyazaki's earlier work like Spirited Away or Howl's Moving Castle. It is hard to say where this would rank compared to the other two I mentioned but it definitely had the distinctive "Miyazaki feel" to it and offered an enjoyable two hours. The story is creative as ever and while my Japanese is far from perfect I was able to keep up with the story without subtitles which goes to show you how adept Miyazaki is at keeping the visual flow very detailed and smooth. I will definitely consider buying the DVD when it comes out.

On an unrelated note - Roppongi is indeed very different late at night. It was almost 50% Japanese, 50% Foreigners tonight...

First trailer of the new Miyazaki/Studio Ghibli movie

Even though the movie itself will be out (and I will be in line for the first session showing it :P) in two or three weeks at Toho Cinemas the trailer is still not officially available on the web. However, I was able to find a clip from a TV program that included a look at the trailer (albeit with comments - people constantly going "かわいい！"(cute!)... But it is definitely better than nothing ;)