Summary of Japan Trip (Nov 2009)

Here’s a summary linking up all the posts related to our 18-day Japan trip in November 2009.

The posts with asterisks was updated with some videos after it was first published. Do go see!

Japan Trip: Day 14 (27 Nov 2009)

When we arrived in Japan, we had bought tickets to the Ghibli Museum for today’s admission at 10:00am. The tickets had to be bought in advanced and there is a limited number of tickets per day.

We took the JR Chuo Line and alighted at Mitaka station. Although there’s a shuttle bus (200 yen single trip / 300 yen round trip) from the station, we decided to walk to the museum as we read that it is a rather enjoyable walk and doesn’t take very long.

It was a bit confusing as we didn’t know from which direction to start walking, even with the printed map from their website. We almost started towards the wrong direction but eventually, we got our bearings right and onto the correct path. There were also signs along the way which directed us to the museum.

The museum is located within Inokashira Park and it was pleasant to stroll in the park.

At the entrance, we were greeted by Totoro from behind the booth. It was quite difficult to get a good shot due to the glass reflection.

The tickets to the museum are in the form of a real 35mm film strips and there are different designs based on film scenes from Ghibli movies.  Nice for keeps! We started our visit watching the special short film at the Saturn Theater. I forgot the title of the film but it involves characters from 2 separate Ghibli movies (Totoro and Ponyo).

Unfortunately, photography is not allowed within the museum so no photos to share. I should have taken more photos at the outdoor areas…*regret*

The museum is quite small but nevertheless, it was quite interesting to see some real drawings,  and get to know the tremendous amount of efforts put in to create the lovely animations on screen!

Japan Trip: Day 1 (14 Nov 2009)

This is the 1st post about our 1st trip to Japan. Yes, finally starting to write about our trip… We spent a total of 18 days traveling.

We flew on Malaysia Airlines and reached Narita Airport at 7:15am, via Kuala Lumpur Int’l Airport. The transit adds about 1h more but it was still worth it since the tickets cost only $398! The flight was smooth and there was no delays.

After getting some brochures at the tourist information counter, we bought our Narita Express + SUICA tickets. Despite a queue for the tickets, we made it in time to board the Narita Express that stops at Ikebukuro Station – else we would need to change trains. We had assigned seats on the Narita Express and had a comfortable ride into Tokyo.

My first impression of Tokyo while on the train was that the city is somewhat quiet for a Saturday morning. I recalled that when the train passed Shinjuku and I looked out of the window, there was no crowds as I had expected.

= plane, Narita Express, street outside House Ikebukuro =
(yup, Komaneko went on the trip too and we saw his creator! LOL)