Manga Tour Day 4: Ghibli Museum, Nakano Broadway and Shibuya

On Day 4 of my Pop Japan Travel "Mind Over Manga" Tour travels, our group went away from the hustle and bustle of central Tokyo to nearby Mitama to visit the Ghibli Museum. Tucked away near Inokashira Park, the Ghibli Museum is the home to all things related to the work of animator / director Hayao Miyazaki, including My Neighbor Totoro (Tonari no Totoro), Princess Mononoke (Mononoke Hime) and the current release, Ponyo by the Cliff by the Sea (Gake no Ue no Ponyo), which we saw in a theater in Shibuya later that night. In between, we hit Nakano Broadway, the home of another branch of Mandarake, the super-cool comics and Japanese pop culture collectibles supershop.

After an early morning wake-up call, we trekked out to Mitama via train. It took a bit to get there, and it was still raining when we arrived, but it was very nice to walk through Inokashira Park to enjoy some quiet and greenery after all the hustle and bustle of Tokyo.

Visiting the Ghibli Museum is not one of those "impulse" trips -- visitors have to make reservations ahead of time and be there on time to enter. This is one of the advantages of being part of a tour group --- all these details are taken care of for us, so all we have to do is show up on time.

Created out of organic shaped concrete and surrounded by plants, the Ghibli Museum is a charming embodiment of Miyazaki's aesthetic - nature, quasi-European charm of days past with a touch of Disney cuteness and a hint of Japanese culture. There are several rooms demonstrating how animation is made (albeit highly romanticized in some aspects), places to romp and explore, such as the huge, furry cat bus from My Neighbor Totoro, the iron robot on the roof from Laputa: Castle in the Sky, and the charming Straw Hat Cafe, where you can get a full lunch or just enjoy a hot dog and soft drink or for older fans, a private label Ghibli Museum beer.

After we all stocked up on Studio Ghibli souvenirs, we headed to Nakano to check out the Nakano Broadway building, home of another branch of Mandarake, the pop culture collectibles superstore. The Nakano Broadway branch has a kind of scruffy feel, compared to the Akihabara store, but it's got a good deal more variety. Besides the new and vintage manga, there's tin toys, advertising ephemera, fashion dolls like Barbie, her Japanese counterpart Licca, Sailor Moon toys and collectible ball-jointed dolls. Japanese pop idol magazines from the Seventies and even intact packages of Godzilla chewing gum going for $10.

On sale there, alongside Ranma 1/2 anime cells were actual paintings and sketches from Kanashimi no Belladonna, an unusually stylish, psychedelic yet mostly forgotten Seventies era animated feature from Tezuka Productions. Watch the YouTube version of the original trailer and you'll see what I mean. (Warning: clip contains some visuals best suited for mature viewers).

We all hopped on the train again and ended up in Shibuya. Paid our respects to the statue of Hachiko, the faithful dog, then immediately split up to take in Shibuya's sights before seeing the latest offering from Studio Ghibli, Ponyo on a Cliff by the Sea (Gake no Ue no Ponyo).

Not sure where the others went, but I hit the nearby 109 Building to see what the pretty young things are buying and wearing. After conceding that there was nothing in my size, nor anything that was, well, not completely trashy, I was content to just wander and take in the people watching of one of the most vibrant centers of youth culture in Japan.

Then it was movie time! Japanese movie theaters are pretty much like American ones, complete with trailers and popcorn. No subtitles, so most of us had to make do and try to figure out what's going on without really understanding what the characters were saying, but in the end we all ended up enjoying this super cute fable about a little girl fish who falls for a young human boy.

Ponyo aside, I really got a kick out of watching the trailer for the live action feature film version of Naoki Urasawa's Twentieth Century Boys, There were huge banners at Shibuya station announcing the film's debut on August 30 (which is our last day here, so I'll have to miss it, dang it).

Also saw a clip from the live action version of Detroit Metal City, starring Kenichi Matsuyama (who seems to be making a career out of acting in manga movies -- he was Shin in both Nana movies and L in the Death Note movies). With all this hype, wonder when Kiminori Wakasugi's original manga version of this story about a dweeb who lives a double life as a visual-kei rocker will arrive on U.S. shores?

Our post-movie meal was some conveyor belt sushi, which was pretty decent as those things go. What was actually more fun was how the chefs hammed it up once we brought out our cameras. This was unusual, since I mostly take photos in stealth mode, before a clerk starts frantically telling me "okyak'sama (honored guest), no photo, no photo!"

Another long day done! Next up! Harajuku and a trip to Nippon Animation Studios to meet anime art director Nizo Yamamoto.

Image credit: © Deb Aoki