Day 1: Ghibli Museum

We arrived in Mitaka to visit the Ghibli Museum. Ghibli Museum is a very popular museum and attracts many visitors a year. It focuses on the famous Studio Ghibli animated films. The museum is located in Inokashira Park in Mitaka, a suburb of Tokyo. We caught a train there.

We had an eki bento (takeaway) at the railway station, and after that wasted huge amounts of time trying to find a rubbish bin to dispose the packaging. Finally gave up, went to the koban, and the police officer explained to me there are no public rubbish bins – we either need to take it home or find a convenience store.

Went to the tourist centre they showed me the directions to 7-11 which fortunately had rubbish bins. Bought some iTunes cards there – these are hard to get outside of Japan and worth it so I can buy Japanese media when I return home.

The Ghibli museum was great, there were some new exhibits but it was less enthralling than when we first visited 9 years ago because a lot of it was the same. They have a strict no photos policy inside the museum which disappointed me, and they are a lot stricter in enforcing it than last time. Still, we had a good time and spotted our first full bloom cherry tree in the park outside the museum.

On the walk back to the station we passed by a zoo with lots of statues. It was getting quite chilly and we were now ravenous. Went the wrong direction when we got off the train but fortunately we realised our mistake after a block. Lots of food options including an unagi restaurant but we decided for tempura. It was the best tempura meal I have had and quite cheap too – the equivalent of Australian food court pricing for a sit down restaurant.

Food seems to be cheaper than 9 years ago – I guess the impact of deflationary spiral economics that I struggled with in Advanced Japanese class has really taken effect. Despite that, the economy still seems okay – nothing compared to the shuttered and graffitied downtown stores and closed malls in America.