The Catbus
From My Neighbor Totoro.
Madame Tatillonne — CC BY-SA 4.0 · Maarten Heerlien from Voorschoten, The Netherlands — CC BY 2.0 · Rob Young from United Kingdom — CC BY 2.0 · Douglaspperkins — Public domain · Stéphane Gallay from Laconnex, Switzerland — CC BY 2.0 · 伊部リコ — CC BY 3.0 · 伊部リコ — CC BY 3.0 · Olivier Lejade from France — CC BY-SA 2.0
A museum of the work of the Japanese animation studio Studio Ghibli, in Inokashira Park in Mitaka, western Tokyo. Director Hayao Miyazaki designed it himself, with storyboards like those for his films, and it opened on 1 October 2001. It blends a children's museum, a technology museum and an art museum, devoted to the art and technique of animation. You wander between iron spiral staircases inside and out, bridges and balconies, and passages that sometimes end nowhere, just like the buildings in Miyazaki's films. It has a replica of the Catbus from My Neighbor Totoro, a small theatre showing short films made only for the museum, a rooftop garden, a café and a bookshop. With its colourful, ivy-covered walls, the building looks as if it stepped out of a film. Adult tickets are 1,000 yen, by advance reservation only for a set time; no tickets are sold at the museum, and it closes on most Tuesdays, according to its official site. Photography is not allowed inside. Walk through the park from Kichijōji or Mitaka station, or take a bus from Mitaka Station.
From My Neighbor Totoro.
Exclusive shorts.
Among the ivy.
Inokashira Park, Mitaka, western Tokyo
Only by advance reservation for a set time; no tickets are sold at the museum. Adult tickets are 1,000 yen, and it closes on most Tuesdays, according to its official site.