This time around, we were disappointed to learn that the Ghibli museum, which we loved last time, is closed while we're here. As a result, we'd accepted that there wouldn't be much in the way of Ghibli fun this time, but as luck would have it the art museum in Roppongi was hosting a Ghibli exhibition! So today we made our way to Roppongi for the some high brow loitering in galleries.
We had a quick breakfast at a Cinnabon, which was purely because of Better Call Saul, and then the waiting in lines began. It turns out that on a rainy Saturday in Tokyo, people like visiting museums. Who'd have thought, huh? So we waited in line to get a ticket. Then we were led to another line (very orderly, of course) to wait for the elevator to the 52d floor of Roppongi Hills Tower. Then when we were at floor 52, we waited in line to enter the exhibit. Then we were in the exit it, which was lovely, but also consisted of shuffling along a few feet at a time, stopping, more shuffling, an occasional jostle, and more shuffling. Then there was another line for the catbus, which I was very excited about. This meant a change in pace whilst I waited in one line, and Andrew was in another line for a photo. And then...we swapped lines! Exciting stuff. I'm being facetious, the exhibits themselves included beautiful storyboards, recreations of Miyazaki's office, stunning real world interpretations of objects and characters, and huge collections of concept art and promotional materials for all Ghibli films. It was just astonishingly busy, far in excess of what we were expecting.
We had lunch in the Sun Cafe on the same floor, after battling our way through the ridiculously crowded gift shop where we bought a number of prints and a limited edition owl Totoro, and we were lucky enough to be given a window seat (after waiting for 30 minutes in, you guessed it...) so we had a spectacular view of Tokyo tower. As a side note, I had awesome hair as I left this morning, but the humidity and rain took their toll in about 7 seconds, hence the ridiculous photos. Our food was good but weird, and Ghibli themed (somehow) and I had an entirely black hamburger that was something vegimiteey crossed with balsamic and hipster kaleness with chips. Andrew had a kind of toad in the hole with ham and bechamel smothered in cheese, with a side of what we'll call minestrone meatballs? Weird.
Our ticket also included entry to the other exhibit, My body your life, which was a fascinating and occasionally wanky collection of installations by various artists. Some of the artists were exploring the link between sound and objects, others were examining very personal interpretations of life with disability and identity, race, and valuing the 'everyday'. My favourites were the Flag of the Common People and the Button installation, which consisted of bowls of assorted buttons which visitors were asked to pick up handfuls of and throw at a target to see if one would land on a small raised target. The message was about 'impermanence' but it was just fun to engage with.
After seeing both exhibits, we did some shopping and I found an awesome leather jacket on sale at Zara, and we stopped to share a choux pastry ice cream (delicious) before continuing shopping in Roppongi. We visited Don Quixote, an everything shop over six floors which sells pretty much everything you can think of (yes, even that) from groceries to electronics to darts, wigs, high end Gucci bags, thousand dollar cognac and cheap toe socks. It was hilarious.
We had a nice cheap dinner at a serve yourself udon place which was lovely, and then went into Harajuku for doughnuts from Good Town Donuts and coffee to end the night. I had a hibiscus one and Andrew had a blood orange one. They were amazing, and we will definitely go back at some point for more. We decided to walk back home from there and now we're chilling with Premium Yebisu #126, Royal Milk Tea and pancake cream cake.
- Jess
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