Tokyo spotlight: Studio Ghilbi Museum
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What is the Studio Ghilbi Museum?
One of my favorite places in Tokyo is the Studio Ghibli Museum in Mitaka. For those who may not be familiar, the museum is dedicated to the works of filmmaker Hayao Miyazaki. While his movies are often made for children, they have strong recurring themes such as the relationship between humanity and nature and often feature a strong, female character as the lead, which makes this a perfect family activity for your luxury getaway. If you’re new to the world of Miyazaki films, I highly recommend watching my childhood favorites My Neighbor Totoro, Princess Mononoke and Howl’s Moving Castle.
The museum itself was beautiful and just plain old fun. It has a child-like curiosity to it, requiring visitors to carry with them a sense of adventure and imagination. Miyazaki played a significant role in the designing the museum, including the architecture, exhibits and layout. As a result, you get a whimsical, colorful building that is more like Miyazaki’s personal studio rather than a museum.
As soon as you arrive in the ticketing room, you are greeted with custom-designed stain glass ceiling featuring some of Miyazaki’s more popular figures. Unfortunately, photography is not allowed inside the museum, so you’ll have to leave that up to your imagination :). One thing to note is that there are no expedited “VIP” lines – everyone must stand in line and wait. However, you can reserve tickets in advance, or book a tour operator like this who will secure tickets on your behalf.
Exploring the Studio Ghilbi Museum
I love the Ghibli Museum because its an experience that is purely tailored to your inner child. Bright colors cartoons everywhere, winding staircases, and the fact that you can touch everything in the museum, are just some of the reasons why. You can tell Miyazaki paid attention to every little detail while designing the museum, down to the movie tickets, which are stills from various movies.
Speaking of the movie, you can purchase a movie ticket for a special feature Miyazaki-made especially for the museum. While there are no subtitles, non-Japanese speakers will have no problem understanding and enjoying the movie – I know I sure did! It is about a group of children who go on a sailing and whaling adventure and is probably the cutest thing I’ve ever seen. I wish they were selling copies of it.
Finally, one of the biggest draws of the Studio Ghilbi museum is upstairs, where Miyazaki’s movie sketches and stills are on display. Visitors can learn about his inspirations and influences, and see how ideas turn into a movie. Looking at those sketches truly felt like walking through the mind of a creative genius.
Who should visit the Ghilbi Museum?
I would highly encourage anyone who is a Miyazaki fan or visiting Tokyo with kids to check out this museum. For those who prefer to skip the pressure and logistics, consider booking this organized tour that includes a professional guide, round-trip transfer via air-conditioned coach, lunch, the admission fee for Ghilbi Museum, as well as an admission fee for the Edo-Tokyo Open Air Architectural Museum.
A few tips for travelers:
The museum is located about a 30-minute drive outside of central Tokyo, so plan your day accordingly!
You MUST buy tickets in advance and show up at the time you choose (check their official website here). The museum doors open every 2 hours for crowd control, and guests are allowed to stay for as long as they want. You may only enter the museum at the time designated on your ticket.
How long should I spend there?
There is a lot to see at the Ghilbi museum, and we spent a whole afternoon wandering around and looking at Miyazaki’s sketches. However, if you’re in a rush, you can easily see everything in about 60 minutes.
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