Ghibli Studio in Mitaka!

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Welcome to the wonderful world of Anime!!

This week, my Japanese popular culture class went to the city of mitaka to visit the ghibli studio museum for some fieldwork. I couldnt tell you how much it was to enter the museum, but I can tell you that it was one of the most interesting places that ive been to in Japan so far.

The scenery on the walk to the museum was beautiful, so I took a lot of photos for you guys to see the downtown area and all of the parks that we passed on the way.

At the museum, the founder of ghibli studio and creator of some of the most famous animated films, Hayao Miyazaki who created spirited away, had an extensive collection of art on display. One of the most interesting things about this museum that differs from most japanese museums is that you were actually able to touch things and interact with them. Usually, museums have such old artifacts that touching them or taking pictures of them could potentially harm them, but not here!

There just so happened to be the coolest thing in the world in this museum. A garden with a huge robot on top of the roof with a spiral staircase leading up to the top. The foilage was exquisite, and definitely photo worthy.

The museum also had a film on display, i cant remember exactly what it was, but im pretty sure it was a clip from one of miyazakis films. It began with a spider in a swamp tring to build a house underwater when he encounters a pond skipped and falls in love with her. Definitely cute.

I think this museum really shows an important connection between animation and popular culture because the japanese people seem to be the first culture to see animation as a device rather than solid entertainment, sure you can make a movie with crazy effects in it, but with an animation, I feel like the emotional connection can definitely escalte into something more on a personal level. This museum definitely gets a 5 star rating from an anime fan. 😊

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