Totoro

Phew - another long day.  We've only just got back at 8pm.  We popped Tom in the shower and he went to bed without a story or talk about the day, was asleep in seconds.

So today was an exciting day as we had tickets to go to the Studio Ghibli Museum.  However, our allotted time slot wasn't until 4pm so we had to fill the day before hand but not tire ourselves out too much.

We had a quiet start to the morning.  As it is school time now we spend the mornings doing reading, writing and maths.  It is the best time to do it as Tom is fresh and keen.  It also gives Matt a chance to do some work (although how much he can concentrate with us doing lessons in the same room I'm not sure).  I basically feel like a teacher now and to be fair to Tom he isn't a bad student.

After a little discussion about what to do this morning, we ended up deciding on visiting the biggest Daiso we can find in Tokyo that isn't ridiculously out of the way.  So off to Kinshicho we went where there was a Daiso 5 times the size of the one we went to in Odaiba.  As is always the case it was an Aladdin's cave full of things we didn't realise we needed until now.  For me it was basically a business trip as I bought loads of things for my business - about 50% of my tools at home are from a 100 Yen shop, the trend is continuing...

We didn't go completely mad, but did end up with a basket full of goodies.

We then headed up to the top of the shopping centre in search of lunch and ended up with a hamburger, ebi fry, pork katsu and chicken karage to share between us all (guess who go the lion's share of the ebi fry?!), then we worked our way down the shopping centre, got a pair of shorts and another train t-shirt for Tom from Uni qlo and then took a look around a baby / children's shop we knew from Kobe.  We thought we would be able to pick up some nice Japanese pyjamas for Amber, but for some reason all girls sizes stopped at 95 (we think she is probably at least a 100 if not a 110), whilst boys sizes stop at 130????? This seems to happen in all stores we've been in.  Good for us but annoying if you have a girl? (Makes a change)

Nice architecture

We then decided to head to Miazaki, the location of the Ghibli museum.  We got there early, it is located in a nice park (yes they do exist - although this is the first we have seen to date) so Tom had a play in the play area and then we headed over to the museum to see if they would let us in early.  They would but only half an hour early and we were earlier than that.  We had a look around the outside of the building which they had modelled to look as if it had popped straight out of one of their films - it reminded me a bit of Gaudi architecture, no straight lines and lots of higgles and piggles.  We found a huge Totoro manning the ticket office so took some pics and then waited to be allowed in.

Totoro

Unfortunately you aren't allowed to take any photographs inside the building, I can see why - the building is over half of the attraction, so well done, so much to see, so much exploring to do - we got over excited and at one point Matt found himself in the ladies toilet thinking it was another room to explore.  There were a lot of murals, stained glass etc.  There were a lot of details (eg the knobs of the water taps had little jijis (black cats) on them.

Cat bus play area (from their website)

The first place we found was the cat bus playroom.  A MASSIVE soft cat bus that children can clamber around on - including the roof.  It was gorgeous, Tom loved it (we weren't allowed on it as you have to be 12 and under) and we looked on jealously!  Of course, this being Japan, it was immaculate, with staff brushing the carpet around the bus as the children were playing on it.  It was completely soft inside and out.  It took quite a bit of pursuading to pull him off it.

In the roof garden

We then had a look around the roof garden and then headed back in to find the cafe for a sit down and bite to eat - it was full, so we headed to the cinema.

Here Ghibli show 15 minute presentations that can only be seen in the museum.  The one we saw was about Mai and a kitten bus.  Of course it had Totoro in it too.  It was lovely, Tom was so excited that he was exclaiming at things, including at one time shouting 'I wonder where it is going too?' as the kitten bus flew away and exactly when the soundtrack to the film was silent!  Oops - he got a few laughs though so it wasn't too bad!  The detail here was great too - it wasn't just projected onto the screen from a regular projector, it was projected from a mock up of a European looking tram - of course.

Monster

Once that was over, we went back to the cafe and found ourselves a table.  I had a rhubarb soda served with a bamboo straw (quite refreshing) and Matt a coffee and both of us a freshly baked bread bun (strange, served with no knife, no butter - just as well it was fresh!).

Pumping water from the well (as per Totoro)

We then were made to go back to the cat bus playroom where Tom had another play until we reaslised the museum was only open for another 20 minutes, so we rushed around the exhibits to make sure we saw everything before it closed.  My favourite was a mock up of a studio, with lots of artwork covering the walls of all our favourite films.  I could have spent hours in there discovering bits and bobs.

We sadly left at closing time and headed back to the station, stopping off at Yoshinoya on the way (thinly sliced beef and onions on rice served to you seconds after ordering).  Then the long trip home (the Ghibli Museum is quite a way West from the centre of Tokyo).  Tom almost fell asleep on me but suddenly perked up and happily walked the 800m home from Hamamastu-cho station.