chool is back in session and Im back to teachin. A lot of the kids are energetic and hyped up to study English, which is cool. But I also sympathize with the kids who are tired out from playing all summer and still adjusting to having to get up early and study an stuff like that. Although I did kinda have a summer vacation, I worked most of it (cause I need tha money).  (T-T) Although I did get to go out on a couple of mini trips. One of them was to the Ghibli Studio Museum!

For those not familiar with Ghibli, its like the Japanese Disney. Films like Nausica of the Valley of the Wind, Castle in the Sky Laputa, and Totoro are Ghibli Studio films. Then again, its also very unlike Disney in that the films are usually pretty deep or have rather serious themes like: Learning to change yourself and take action rather than being swept up and fading away into a world where life has lost much of its meaning (Spirited Away), or The damage that arises from humanity in its struggle to expand and develope,  destroying nature and all its spirits and creatures rather than living in a peaceful coexistance (Princess Mononoke). Yikes!

So anyways, the Ghibli Museum. Its so popular that you can not buy tickets at the door. You have to reserve tickets a month in advance. But its really cheap. Only about 10 bucks for admission. Its not like a museum where you walk in and just stroll around looking at paintings on the wall. Its a 3 story structure made of several buildings that were designed (on the outside) in the same style as the buildings that show up in many of the Ghibli films. The inside is divided into rooms where you can experience the various aspects of the Ghibli world.

Macchi and I set of early on a train to Tokyo. We got to Kichijoji where we waited at the Totoro bus stop and boarded the Totoro bus. At the entrance you recieve a museum map and a free admission ticket to a mini movie theatre where you can see short films that you can only watch by visiting the museum. Films like the Mei and the Kitten Bus ( Mei to Koneko Basu) which is a spin off of the Cat Bus (Neko Basu) from Totoro. There is only one film that they show on any given day, so the only way to see another film is to go an visit the museum again. The show we saw was called The Day I Bought a Star (Hoshi o Katta Hi).

There is a room where you learn about how animation and animating works. The only junk (hawaiian term for 'bad') thing is that you can't take pictures in the museum. There are cafes, lounges, gift shops, a library/book store, and also a room with a big plush Cat Bus! That you can actually touch, climb into, and climb on to!  But its like the play land at McDonalds where only kids can enter. Unless no one is looking...

If you take a set of spiral stairs to the rooftop, there is a re-creation of one of the Soldier Robots from Castle in the Sky. As well as one of the Glyph stones that make the castle float. All that for under ten bucks. Definitely worth the trip.

By the way, there is a new film out by Ghibli Studio called Tales of Ged (Gedo Senki) based on the books Tales from Earthsea. There are 5 or 6 books in the Earthsea series, and the movie is based (loosely) on the 3rd and 4th books. There was also a SciFi Channel mini series based (extremely loosely) on the 1st and 2nd books. Gedo Senki is kind of complicated to watch, especially in all Japanese. I wonder if theyll come out with the English version?