Our 282nd entry in this blog is our trip to Ghibli Museum in Mitaka, Tokyo, Japan.

This is Ate Rei and Sai’s first time to visit the place. And I believe Papa Dave’s first time too. 🙂 I visited this place a long while back with office mates.

The Ghibli Museum is a museum showcasing the work of the Japanese animation studio ‘Studio Ghibli’. It is located in Inokashira Park in Mitaka, a western city within the Tokyo Metropolitan Area, in Japan.

The entrance says: Mitaka no Mori Jiburi Bijutsukan, or in English: Mitaka Forest Ghibli Museum. While lining up outside, we were constantly reminded that we cannot take photos once we are inside the museum. So, our photos here are only from outside areas.

The museum combines features of a children’s museum, technology museum, and a fine arts museum and is dedicated to the art and technique of animation. Features include a replica of the Catbus from My Neighbor Totoro, a café, bookstore, rooftop garden, and a theater for exclusive short films by Studio Ghibli.

The museum opened on October 2001. Studio Ghibli director Hayao Miyazaki designed the museum himself, using storyboards similar to the ones he creates for his films. The design was influenced by European architecture such as the hilltop village of Calcata in Italy.

The museum features internal and external spiral staircases built from iron, interior bridges, and balconies stretching throughout the building’s height. The stairways lead to exhibits, dead ends, and across bridges. These characteristics are meant to reflect Miyazaki’s building designs displayed in his film work.

Miyazaki’s aim was to make the building itself part of the exhibit and for the museum to be an uplifting and relaxing experience “that makes you feel more enriched when you leave than when you entered”.

“Let’s get lost together” is the museum’s slogan, derived from Miyazaki’s vision for visitors to immerse themselves in his imagination and film work.

The place is not that big. That is why it’s very difficult to get a ticket from this museum. I had to set an alarm for when the date is opened for ticket purchase. The moment I was allowed to enter the website (after being in queue for almost an hour), the date I wanted is already sold out. Thankfully, there was still a few slots available for a nearby date.

There are a lot of details from our favorite Ghibli movies (Totoro, Ponyo, Boy and the Heron, Grave of the Fireflies, Howl’s Moving Castle, etc.) We also love the food in their cafe.

And that is our quick visit to Ghibli Museum. There is also a Ghibli Park in Nagoya that is also in our bucket list. Hope we can visit there, and also come back here soon. 🙂