Ghibli and an Irish Pub (Fri 2/19)

I went out to Mitaka for my noon appointment to get into the Ghibli museum. And they don't allow pictures inside, so I just have a few from outside (pretty much the same as last time). I had a great time. I was able to read entire signs talking about their process for creating Ponyo. I didn't recognize two or three words, but I was able to infer what one of them was (a different kanji for つくる than I was used to : 造る), and I asked someone next to me for help with the others 文具 (stationary) and 鉛筆 (pencil ... which I should've known)

Then I got to see the short film ちゅうずもう (chuzumo) which was about a old man and woman that worked a farm on the side of a mountain. One night the old man gets up and finds the mice from his house sneaking off to take part in a sumo tournament. He notices that one group of mice keep beating everyone, so he tells his wife, and they decide to help their mice. They make a bunch of food for them to help build their strength, and then they go with them to cheer them on. It was absolutely the cutest short animated film I've ever seen. It's a shame they don't release these on DVD. I would love to be able to watch it again without having to travel half way around the world to see it .. once =(





Anyway, I walked back a different way, through 井の頭 (Inokashira) and stopped in a little cafe because I saw a giant 甘酒 (amazake) sign out front and had lunch. Then I took a train from there back to Shinjuku. Here's something I got a picture of in Inokashira park.



In the evening I went wandering around Shinjuku for a bar, and found an Irish pub. I went in and started having a few drinks, and ended up sitting next to a girl at the bar that just came back from a year in Toronto. She was waiting to meet up with a friend of hers, and we ended up going to McDonalds and they taught me some Kansai dialect slang. All in all it was a great evening.