Having Greg, Ted's cousin, reserve three Ghibli Museum tickets for us several weeks ago proved a wise move. Although nominally only 100 tickets per day are allocated to the world beyond Japan, it was readily apparent that the chance to obtain tickets once we arrived in Japan was minimal at best. We lined up shortly after 10:00 a.m. with quite a few others - many Chinese and Korean - under the entrance canopy after a lengthy twenty minute walk through Inokashira Park from Kichijoji Station, awaiting entry to Miyazaki Hayao's world of animation magic.
The wait and the effort to obtain advanced tickets proved well worth it. The next two hours was spent happily watching a twelve minute animation shown only at the museum, sorting through various sketchbooks and film stills and learning about the various processes involved in completing a Miyazaki anime. What surprised me most was the wide range of resource materials consulted by the animators well before even beginning to sketch. A special exhibit featured a version of the Nutcraker due for release in the Autumn of 2015, one based on a re-telling of the Hoffman original by children's author Alison Jay - it looks like an unbeatable hit!
On our return walk to Kichijoji, we stopped for lunch at Pepper Mint, a Thai restaurant overlooking Inokashira Park, for an especially delicious meal. Then we happened upon one of those places sooooo typical of the Japanese quest for "endless choice", a small store overflowing with beautifully designed stickers (and related merchandise) of every imaginable kind and subject. We scoured the complete collection for nearly an hour, trying to locate the perfect image to encapsulate our entire experience in Japan. What fun that was!
Our last stroll took us through more of Kichijoji's narrow streets and alleyways, all bustling with even more examples of the "endless choice" aesthetic, but we still liked B-Side, the sticker shop, best.
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