Yesterday started off a bit rocky, but it was still good. I decided to go pretty far out from Shibuya to Kiyosumi-Shirakawa, which is out in western Tokyo, to the Museum of Contemporary Art Tokyo. The first bump was that I realized I left the battery for my camera on the charger -_-;;; so I had to use my cell phone camera. Then I sort of got lost for about an hour :< but to be honest I didn't try particularly hard to get un-lost til a little later, because it was nice just wandering around the area. I found a little stand that sold bento, so I got a tonkatsu curry bento (nom) and carried it around, eventually eating in the cool air conditioning of a grocery store. The only thing that made the wandering unfortunate was the extreme humidity, but that's clearly going to be a constant problem so I can't mind it too much.
On the last street to the museum, there were all these sort of... dolls? I guess? Along the street. They were about 3-4 feet tall each and it looked like local businesses or groups of people or individuals or... something... made each one, so they were all different. One of my favourites was a Moomin :< I'm not sure why they're out there but they were cute.
I finally made it to the museum, which was big and had cool architecture, which was almost worth the trip in itself. I was extra happy after I walked into the lobby and saw a sign for a Studio Ghibli exhibit...!! It cost about ¥1500 for entry to the regular part of the museum and the special Ghibli exhibit, but honestly either one of them would have been worth that much on their own. The Ghibli exhibit consisted of hundreds, I'm sure, of drawings from a particular part of the anime creation process, which I can't remember the official name for (and most signage was in Japanese). It's where the director or maybe some others make drawings of shots they want, like a storyboard, and write little notes on it and such. Some are black and white and some are coloured in completely. There were probably about a dozen rooms full of these to wind through, organized by the movie. The museum was really crowded, so being tall paid off because I could stand behind the stream of Japanese people and look at the pictures at more my own pace :3
At the end of the exhibit was a little area where you could take photos, such as on Totoro's tummy :< which I did :<<<< They had a woman from the museum there to take your photo with your camera so that everyone could get in on the tummy action.
I had my photo taken with my phone, so the picture is really really tiny as you can see, but at least it exists. They also had a huge wall where you could colour a round sticker to make your own version of those little dust ball guys from Spirited Away, then stick it on the wall. I didn't end up doing it because I got distracted by the store, where I refrained from buying anything except exhibit-only souvenirs since I'm going to the Ghibli museum later.The rest of the museum was really nice. It had very, very modern art, including a Lichtenstein(!) which was cool.
I came back to Shibuya for eating and showering before embarking on my evening journey. I ate at a cake buffet (they exist!) although this one also had pasta (spaghetti, udon, etc), some soups and curry, and a few salad items. It was a casual cafeteria style place and was totally full of packs of teens/20-somethings. I was the only gaijin there :< I think people were laughing at me because I didn't know how to buy the ticket or anything, and I entered through the exit door... oh well. Delicious desserts abound.
I spent the night in Akihabara, which was bright and loud and really awesome... I'll be going back later when more things are open, because a lot of the electronic stores were closed or closing when I got there and many of the bright lights were out. However, still open late at night were tons of game parlors, anime stores, and cafes. I made it to one of my maid cafes! Jam Akihabara (look at my maid doll all cute on top of the sign). They have a page in the menu called the "Fairy Menu" which is where they put all their Jam-specific food and drinks. I had a Berry Berry Milk, which was berry-flavoured milk topped with whipped cream, berry sauce, and sprinkles. An adorable drink. :3I also spent a while playing crane machines (:<) and just wandering about. There are no ATMs anywhere here... or I guess there are, but they're hard to find. The girls at Jam actually got me a little map and circled some ATMs on it. The map also had the locations of other maid cafes on it... thanks Jam maids! :<
When I left Jam, there was a Jam maid and another maid in a nearby building taking photos. I don't know what cafe that girl belonged to but maybe she's new, so they needed her photo. I sort of discreetly watched for a few minutes, then I left. She was really cute :<This post is full of :<.
Today I'm going to Yoyogi Park, where the Harajuku girls hang out, and also where there is a big shrine sale. Mrs. Black is coming with me for a while, mostly for the shrine sale, hee. Good night America, and good morning Japan ^_^
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