Ali's moving castle

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IT'S GHIBLI DAY. Going to see the ghibli museum is the only this I've been organised about, I bought my tickets months ago and they have been stored safely in my bag all the way here and today's the day. 
My early start is soon whittled away and at nine I leave with my excitement to find my breakfast and find my wonderland. My breakfast is a mixed bag, my rice balls - onigiri- arn't that inspiring but my custard filled bun is soft and sweet and I eat it on the platform waiting for my train to Mitaka, it's quite a way out of the city but we never leave the high rise grey of the metropolis. When I get there I catch the cat bus, honestly the cat bus from totoro I'm already sold. By the time we get to the fairy tail building I'm about to explode with excitement. It's multicoloured pink, green and yellow and looks haphazard with bits added on, some round edges some square it looks magical. On the roof, staring out, is a metal robot, from laputa, protecting all within. When you go in through the doors you are bombarded by different styles, part Swiss challet, part Norman castle, part Disney land on acid. Door ways and stairways are everywhere but not all lead anywhere. It's very much designed for children, and it's packed, but the art work and attention to detail speak for them selves. Rooms are dedicated to the art of animation, how it's done, and a fantastic spinning model and strobe light have the cat bus and kike flying around the room. A small animation based on the theory of evolution shows flip book anime and 3d models explain about depth and layering. There are no English signs but it's easy to understand.
From there is a mock up of Hayao Miyazaki's studio. The Walls are covered in pictures, some drawings of everyday things and some things from films, all the adults can be seen pointing and shouting out the names of films or characters as they find them hidden in the clutter on the Walls. There are books everywhere, on the floor in piles, on the desk, on shelves. they are all for reference, books on trees, on countries, on faces, some have pictures hanging out of pages and you can see how an idea developed. There are also story boards for some of the films, simple pen and ink pictures and text of the stories I know so well. 
From here we move to ponyo a whole section dedicated to the newest film, flip books show how 1 section of the film, a couple of seconds, works and computer screens show how the animation works the edges of water, and how much moves and how much doesn't. It's fascinating I stare at the paintings on the wall, deeply coloured cartoon stills, simple yet intricate. Next is the cat bus, a soft play area that I'm not allowed in and then it's all over except to climb the spiral stair case and see the robot in his solitary vidual. 
I go round and round a couple of times before making my way to the cinema to see the special movie that is shown just here. It's great, I don't understand a word but the skill and story stand by them self. I'm grinning from ear to ear by the time I leave. 
I go back to the city for a raman lunch and a boat trip down the river, I get dropped of near the Ooedo-Onsen-Monogatari, the onsen theme park, hot spring bathing sounds right up my street. As I enter I'm asked to take off my shoes and given a yukata to wear and I strip down to the barest of essentials before entering the bath house. I walk around in my dressing gown in the large shopping and restaurant area. Before braving the outside foot bath, a hot river of steaming water winding it's way through a Japanese rock garden the floor is covered with pebbles to massage your feet as you walk through the 40 degree spring water, before having my feet massaged by doctor fish again, but all this is just working up to the main event and I bravely walk to the female hot pools. This will be the second time I've got my baps out on this trip but the first time in public and I've decided that it will be easier in this very busy tourist onsen than one of the smaller local ones, I'm right who will notice one pasty English woman in hundreds of others and I'm quickly at my ease in the pools. There are 9 types of indoor pool and 3 outdoor, some, the smaller ones have more than I pool.  these included 3 tea coloured direct from the hot springs, 1 milky white aerated like it's for cleopatra , 3 bubbleing ones, 1 cold and 5 barrel like,  all at or around 40 degrees. Again I'm reminded of amine as hot water cascades out of the barrels as I get in. I always thought it was symbolic of something I didn't undertand, but it's not it's real.  
It's amazing I spend 5 hours between the pools and having some dinner, sushi. It's good but the flying fish eggs are probably an aquired taste and sea urchin wasn't exactly to my taste, a little squishy and too salty. But the tuna, salmon and squid taste great with pickled Ginger and soy sauce. 
When I'm done I go back to the pools I sit out side in a rock sided pool watching the mist steam and curl off the water into the cold night air and listening to a waterfall tinkle on to the rocks behind my head. Today is a great day.       

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