What Harry Potter and Totoro have in common...

こんにちわ！

Harry Potter was awesome. I think it's actually getting better now, rather than a huge disappointment. That's just me...

Anyways, we left class (we being me, Charlene, who got me the ticket, and Leslie, who got Charlene the tickets). Charlene's in C1 with me and Leslie's in C4 (higher class) and has been to Japan before, so we dutifully followed her lead. She led us to Rippongi, a mini city in Tokyo. It had a huge beautiful theatre, cool statues, expensive restaurants, real upper crust. We unfotunately didn't get time to explore, as we arrived at the theatre just in time to watch the cute 'don't talk on your mobile (lol), kick the seats, talk, litter, smoke, etc. video. Watching trailors for movies that I've already seen in America is bizarre. Watched the movie, la-di-da, nothing you couldn't imagine doing at home (excepting the Japanese subtitles of course, but those were easy to tune out).

We bounced right after, hoping to get to the dorms in time to make a quick meal, for me to get home and cram in a little more studying for the vocab quiz we had today before bed. Well, all of that worked out fine, though it was a little later than I had hoped. My goodness I can't seem to get much sleep around here with all the amazing things I have to do. Tuesday I attented a lecture on archeology at ICU (wrote about that last post), yesterday I wandered Rippongi and saw Harry Potter. Today of course, was the crowning glory of the week.

The Ghibli Museum.

Oh and was it ever fantastic! The buiding was relatively small, a short walk from the Mitaka train station. it was covered in vines and plants and looked just like a building from on of Miyazaki's films. there were cool swirly spire stairs and a giant totoro looking out from a window. I was only allowed to talk photos while outside, so I'll let them speak for themselves. The inside of course, was even more amazing. There were rooms filled with handrawn and painted sketches and scenes, from movies I knew, one I didn't (still haven't seen the new "Ponyo by the Sea" but I heard its wonderful), places I recognized and random doodles for inspiration. There was one room that had all sorts of displays that were intended to create illusions of movement. One was physical that spun with little sculptures all around so that when spinning and the light flashing it looked like the characters (from "My Neighbor Totoro") were moving. It was trippy, but awesome.

We wandered for a while and ended up outside to eats some (expensive) ice cream. The raspberry was great. Eventually we realized there were schedualed showings of a short film in another room that was included in the ticket price. We stumbled into the latest showing just in time and enjoyed an adorable film about a bunch of preschoolers pretending they were at sea in a fake boat. Of course in a Miyazaki world, the water became real and they sailed off and caught a whale, which ended up saving them from a storm and towing them back home, laughing the entire way (the whale that is). There was also a lovely garden outside with a water pump of all things. Got a few pics and a short video there. When Sayuri and I felt we had seen everything, we headed out back to Mitaka station, where I was going to catch a bus, and she a train home.

I ended up meeting with Leslie again (from the Harry Potter expidition) and stopped with her and her friends at a 99 yen store (like a 99 cent store) where I grabbed some rice crackers and cheap gloves for my Fuji hike. One less thing to worry about. We walked the rest of the way to campus (it's sooooo hot and humid), I said goodbye, got on my bike and headed home. I was back by 5:10ish. I studied and cooled off by my fan for an hour or two, and headed downstairs just in time for dinner. Today was this fish (dunno what kind) which was breaded with something like panko but more robust, some mushy potato like stuff with carrots and cucumbers mixed in, soup and rice of course, and some beans. It was fantastic. Probably my favorite meal I've had in the Kuzzuhara household so far. Not that I didn't like most of the others. Just wait Mom, I'm going to come home able to eat and enjoy anything you throw at me. Even. Lobster!! Dun Dun Duuuuuuuunnnnnn....

Dramatics aside (and do the Japanese ever love their soap opera dramas) life is great. Hmm, I just had something I wanted to include in the post... Ah well, I may remember it later, whatever. That's all for now. No real plans for tomorrow or the weekend, though something may come up. The world is an adventure right now, and its wonderful.

Man that sounded cheesy. I really should delete that....

さようなら！

Ah hah!, just remembered it. It was an observation that when I visited Germany the phrase I learned first, most and best was "ich bin mude" ('u' with an umlaut), meaning I am tired. Here, though that certainly applies maybe even more, the phrase that is number one is "atsui neh?" meaning, "it's hot, right?". Always atsui. Atsui, atsui, atsui...