6) Where did the time go? In 2012, Ben already had a taste for clothes.
Then last April I took him to Comme des Garçons, Aoyama, for the first time.
He loved it. He loved the Evian bottles and the whole experience, which he told Markus about. He bought two shirts a pair of shoes. At 13 years old, he stands almost 5’8″.
Ben and I took a walk in Omotesando before taking a cab back to Shinjuku.
7) We met up with the rest of the gang to go to the Studio Ghibli Museum in Mitaka. As fans of Hayao Miyazaki films, we were all excited to go.
I may have expected too much as I thought we would visit a place as magical as the movies Studio Ghibli has produced, such as Spirited Away, Totoro, and Grave of the Fireflies.
My friend Sayoko bought our tickets in advance. To get there, we took the JR Chuo Line from Shinjuku station to Mitaka.
From Mitaka station we took a shuttle bus to the Ghibli Museum. How to get there.
This is the entrance to the museum
Covered in ivy
No photos allowed inside, but I managed to steal a few.
Basically it’s a big house with rooms of memorabilia that shows the fine art of animation, back when everything was drawn by hand.
There are three floors. The top floor has a play place for small children and a souvenir shop—but honestly there are better Studio Ghibli merchandise at toy stores like Kiddyland or Hakuhinkan.
After going through all the rooms and floors, we watched short animated film before heading back.
Basically the trip going there was longer than the actual time we spent at the place.
The highlight of that trip was when Markus bought me my favorite milk ice cream.
We walked the rest of the way back to Mitaka Station. It was seriously tiring. Unless you have long Dutch legs and love long walks, please take the shuttle bus back to Mitaka Station.
Thank God the weather was good. I love looking at Japanese houses and pointing them out to the boys
and those trees
(To be continued)