Totoro and Kamakura

Ok, back with part two of the answers to the Where in Tokyo is Carmen Sandiego post.

Photo #3

This picture of Jeff and I dwarfed by the robot soldier from Laputa Castle in the Sky, a film by Miyazaki and the Ghibli Studio, was taken on the roof of the Ghibli Museum in Mitaka, west Tokyo.  If the films Princess Mononoke, Howl's Moving Castle, Spirited Away, or Ponyo on the Cliff by the Sea mean anything to you then the Ghibli museum should be on your must-see-in-Tokyo list.
It should be noted that tickets are not easy to get, even with a husband who speaks Japanese.  One must purchase a reservation ticket in advance (well in advance if you intend on going during the New Year Holidays as we did) at an ATM-like machine in the konbini, though apparently you can get them from overseas as well.  When you get to the museum you trade in your reservation ticket for a real ticket which contains three frames from one original Ghibli film strip.

As with many museums, pictures aren't allowed in the museum, so we took them on the roof and just outside the door of the cat bus (watch Totoro for more information) with the very powerful drinking fountain.

The museum's brochure urges visitors "let's lose our way together" and there is no set route to follow through the museum.  Rather, you're invited and encouraged to explore all the exhibits at your leisure.  There is a short film available for viewing only in the museum; when we were visiting, a cute brand new one about mice sumo wrestlers.  The coolest thing to see - I think Jeff could have stayed there for several hours - was a spinning carousel-like display with characters from Ghibli films posed in a circle in slightly different positions.  When a strobe light flashed at the spinning models, it lighted each of them in such as way as to create the illusion that they were moving.  I wish I had a video to show, because my explanation can not possibly do this awesome display justice.

Photo #6

This photo is not of the shop at a shrine, but is actually the offerings that people have made at the shrine in Kamakura.  I did get yelled at while taking this picture I'll have you know.  I did not, however, get asked to erase it, so I think we're ok here.

For those of you paying attention, yes, you do see everything from sake (a lot of it) to miso to coca-cola to potato chips.  I am not sure of the criteria used in determining what would be a good offering, but judging from this display it is something along the lines of "what I would bring my college student on parents' weekend".  I wonder where all of this goes when it gets too full and they need to make room for new offerings?  I am guessing you've got some happy monks those days.

Well it seems I've spent too long blabbing on about these two pictures and now it is late and Jeff and I have big workouts planned for tomorrow (slowly but surely, I am building my mileage back up!).  The last picture and our big trip out of Tokyo will have to wait till tomorrow. 

Mata ne,
Melissa