I and the girls have always liked animation movies. We watched most Disney movies. One time, we watched Spirited Away and got blown away by its quirkiness. This is how I came to know Ghibli. The girls, being die-hard fans, have watched a lot more. But I don’t really have time to watch them.
Having visited Ghibli Museum while in Japan, I fell in love with the art and effort, they put into making the movies. So, I decided that we would try to watch every one of their movies!
Yesterday, we chose Howl’s moving castle. Like the other Ghibli movies, it is unlike any other animation movie. The storyline is so unpredictable. It has a great ensemble of characters who are very unique – my favorites are Turnip and Markl 🙂
This one also has many additional bonuses.
First, it has so many beautiful sceneries. I am particularly stunned by the scene when Howl gave Sophie a gift – a door that leads to a beautiful house by the lake, surrounded by hills full of wildflowers. I often dreamed about this type of scenery…and Ghibli put my dream into a very nice visualization. Unfortunately I cant put the picture here due to copyright, but if you search you will definitely find the scene.
Second, it has so many memorable lines.
“They Say That The Best Blaze Burns The Brightest When Circumstances Are At Their Worst.”
Sophie
There You Are Sweetheart, Sorry I’m Late, I Was Looking Everywhere For You
Howl
A Heart’s A Heavy Burden
Sophie
Finally – spoiler alert! It has a very nice ending 😉
If you love anime and have some time to spend – go and watch this one. You will love it.
I have visited Japan previously. The first was to Kumamoto in 2009 as part of a Research collaboration with our partner from Kumamoto University. I was traveling alone at the time, but everything was taken care of by JICA. So, I was not really nervous. I landed at Narita airport and then got to another airplane to Fukuoka. There, I was picked up by a taxi to go to Kyushu International Center. I spent one day and two nights at the center before I traveled to Kumamoto.
I really enjoyed my visit. In fact, I started this blog because I want to record my journey there. You can check all my experiences under the Japan category 🙂
The second time I visited Japan was unplanned. I must stay overnight in Tokyo because I missed my connecting flight to Washington D.C. due to bad weather. It was a really bad experience for me which I noted in this post
Both my girls are really into anime and Japanese culture in general. We watched anime series like Pokemon, Haikyu!!, My Hero Academia, Demon Slayer, and Jujutsu Kaisen. We also watched my Japanese movies, including Dora Emon (who doesn’t?) and movies from Ghibli studio. After watching Demon Slayer, I got so fascinated with Wisteria and found that there is a famous Kawachi Wisteria Garden in Japan. So we plan to visit Japan in spring to witness the beautiful Wisteria and Sakura blooming.
But, the COVID-19 pandemic prevents us from traveling. Until April this year, I heard that Japan slowly reopened by invitation. Luckily, my husband has many colleagues he would like to collaborate with. Long story short, my husband and I secured invitations from our colleagues in three universities located in Tokyo! I would love to visit my colleagues in Kumamoto, but since Kumamoto is quite far from Tokyo, we could not go there. We decided to bring the girls too. So, we were a bit nervous about applying for the visa. But, the application process is smooth and easy (in such a short time, too!).
We were so excited when we finally got visas. But, we don’t have much time to prepare. We only made an itinerary of what we could do during the four-day time. I have a former student who provided us with tips for traveling around Tokyo. She mentioned that buying a SUICA card is the best way to go around in Tokyo. But, we imagined it would be quite troublesome to bring our luggage by train or bus. We thought of taking a taxi.
When we arrived, we immediately felt overwhelmed. There are COVID-19-related documents that we must fill out. Thankfully, there were a lot of wonderful staff to help us out. I read that there have been a lot of delays in European airports as travel resume. But our experience in Narita was pretty good!
Next is how to get to the Hotel. Based on what I read, Japan’s taxi price is quite expensive. But it turned out to be much more expensive than we expected 🙂 So, in the end, we took the train. It was not as smooth as we had hoped, but we got to our destination, Akihabara station. From there, we walked to our accommodation in Ochanomizu. It’s not far, but it was quite tiring since we just traveled nonstop from Jakarta – Manila – Tokyo. Particularly for the girls who are not so accustomed to a lot of walking.
The sleepy road from Akihabara station to Ochanomizu
We checked in to our hotel and unwound. It’s not a five-star hotel, but quite comfy with well-maintained facilities.
Our HotelThe girls finally got to see the infamous Japanese toilet 🙂
After resting, we got out for lunch. The first “lost in translation” moment happened here 🙂 We wanted to order chicken ramen, but all the menus are in Japanese characters. Thankfully, we had google lens and google translate!
Yummy chicken ramen – we have to use Google Lens to understand the menu
Then we visited the first destination on the girls’ list – Akihabara. It is basically a shopping hub for anything related to Manga, anime and other stuffs 🙂
Look at her goofing around the stores!The great Tokyo TowerBeautiful show 😍💙
Later that night we went to Tokyo Tower. I read that on a Sunday they allowed visitors to climb the stairs and get a certificate. But, it was not possible at the time of our visit. Still, we enjoyed spectacular shows in the tower.
The next day is the day of our first visit to Tokyo Metropolitan University. We checked the train that we must take via Google Maps. It was really useful and precise. But, when we arrived at the station, it’s not that simple! We must choose the ticket and then find the correct platform. All while the train station is bustling with busy people all around. Ultimately, we went to the information center and bought the SUICA cards, so we could easily tap them to board any train and bus around Tokyo.
It was still early in the morning, so it was not that busy
Then Waseda University
Waseda University
We have several hours before our next meeting in Sophia university. So we went to Harajuku 🙂
We found Kawaii things in Harajuku, plus the famous Harajuku Icecream
The next day, we didn’t have any meetings, so we booked a guided tour to the foot of Mount Fuji. There we met a really nice guy and a lady (find the story here)
We also visited a beautiful flower garden. I really loved the experience. More pictures from the visit can be found in this post
A shrine in Mount FujiReflection Stunning viewFound a cafe with Demon Slayer theme!
On our last day, we visited the one and only Ghibli museum! It was really hard to get the ticket. But with a little help from our friend. We managed to get it. We are so glad we did as we can learn all the hard work that the creator puts into each frame of the Ghibli movie.
Ghibli Museum
It was a very short visit, but a very memorable one. We are so thankful with the new technology that is google maps, google translate and google lense!
I am so glad that we brought the girls. They are very amazed to see many things that they only read and watch before. We saw the advanced and modern side but also the natural and traditional side of Japan. The girls also learn new things such as taking a public transportation and Japanese culture. They are very surprise to see that elementary school students took the train from school. An experience I wrote here.
We hope that we can return again in the spring to explore much much more!
The M Ways 