Summer has officially begun

Just as the rainy season was coming to an end last week, the cicadas began to sign the song of summer. To many Japanese people, the constant chirping is the sound of summer.

Right behind the cicadas came the start of summer vacation from school. It is a short six week break, but includes a good portion of homework to keep kids on their toes. My second grader is taking the workload in stride, tackling a little bit of it each day and thinking hard about what to do for his summer project. Last year he did a study of rhinoceros beetles. This year he is going to do an art project.

The bugs and beetles are out in full force in the park, encouraging the annual tradition of nighttime bug hunts. We have a new rule that our son can bring home a beetle from the park to observe, but must return it no later than one week later. So far, this has been a great compromise.

The heat has hit full force, with temps above 34°C (91°F) almost every day for the past week. I'm trying to get out in the morning and spend the afternoons indoors, but sometimes I barely get my potted plants in the yard watered.

And, tonight, the Olympics officially began. We stayed at home to watch the opening ceremony on television. It is weird knowing that this huge event is happening in my backyard (the Olympic Village is only 18 km/11 mi from my house), yet we are so distanced from the whole affair. For me, this Olympics will be the same as all the others as far as my only connection to it being via television. Long ago I thought we would go to one or two of the smaller events, but that is definitely not going to happen. I just hope that everyone is as safe as possible (although I've already read about 71 confirmed Covid cases associated with the games...).

While I have dreams of road trips, camping, and simply taking my son out into nature, I am coming to the realization that it just isn't going to happen this summer. When I told my friend this earlier today, she laughed and said "so you're wanting to give him an American summer?" I hadn't realized it, but her remark was right on the money. I'm just thankful that my son adores Japanese summers filled with bugs, fireworks, and finding a multitude of ways to beat the heat - especially with cold treats like shaved ice.

Fire! Fire!

Growing up in the Pacific Northwest of the US, I thought fireflies (or lightening bugs) were made up. The first time I ever saw them in real life was at Tobu Zoo! Suddenly, I really, really wanted to see them in nature.

I've heard that you can see them in certain places in Japan. Suddenly, I found (another) something to put on my must do list!

Not having a car really limited our chances of ever seeing fireflies. But the desire never dwindled. Knowing this, my husband always kept an eye out for where people would report seeing them. Then, one day, he discovered a place where my dream could become a reality.

There is actually a place in Nerima called Nakazato Native Forest that is a firefly sanctuary! They breed fireflies and release them in their little well maintained environment. My husband had to get reservations to go see them.

We showed up right at dusk for the special viewing event. They explained that we would not be able to take any photos. At first I was disappointed by this, but then I realized it was a blessing because I would be able to just focus on the moment.

The event had three stops. We started in the facility where we saw the lifecycle of the fireflies, including eggs. The second station had a couple fireflies in an aquarium. It was really nice to be able to see them so up close. The final stop was the sanctuary.

As soon as we stepped onto the path near the stream, we saw the little bugs flying around. My husband, son, and I all gasped immediately. It was pure magic!

My son was delighted to be told that if a firefly landed on the path, he could pick it up and put it back on a leaf. He quickly became proficient at transferring the bugs.

Watching the fireflies fly around was incredible. I will always remember this special event. While this isn't an "only in Japan experience", it is for me! And I'm so glad this little dream came true.

Picky, picky!

When we lived in Seattle, we had a lovely yard with a decent sized garden. I tried to plant lots of edibles around the yard, which our son loved to nibble from regularly. He could often be found devouring strawberries, blueberries, plums, snap peas, tomatoes, and cucumbers. He'd also nibble kale, basil, and many other kinds of greens. Sometimes we had a hard time getting him to stop dining al fresco! We learned quickly that one cucumber plant would never be enough for our tenacious eater.

While I try to grow a few things in our little rock garden, I struggle with growing edibles in pots. The extreme weather of Japan doesn't help in my endeavor, with crazy rainy seasons and a very hot summer.

So, when we have the chance to go to a farm and let him harvest to his heart's desire, we jump at the chance. Our latest farm escapade took us to greenhouses filled with strawberries.

Strawberries are mainly grown in green houses in Japan, extending the season from December through April. When they are grown outdoors, they are ready between May and June. For those that don't sell their fruit commercially, many offer u-pick options for customers.

My parents took us berry picking every summer when I was a kid. We always loved going out into the fields and filling our buckets or boxes with as many berries as we could. Of course, we also filled our bellies as well. My dad would often joke to the owners "You should weigh the kids on the way in and out and charge me for all the berries that they eat. You'll make more money that way." He was onto something, and Japanese farmers listened to his recommendation.

Many Japanese farmers choose to sell their u-pick strawberries using an entrance fee method that allows customers to eat as much as they want for an allotted time of picking. We paid ¥2,000 ($18 USD) per person for 30 minutes of strawberry gluttony. We hadn't told our son where we were headed, so when he realized we were going to gorge ourselves on strawberries, his head practically exploded.

This greenhouse offered 5 different kinds of strawberries grown in pots at shoulder height. Upon entering, we washed our hands and were given little trays with a small amount of sweetened condensed milk to dip our strawberries into (a common way of eating strawberries here). Then we were encouraged to go forth and eat.

It was a bit hard to pace ourselves. The berries were so juicy and flavorful! We ate and ate, just like I did as a kid. The big difference being we weren't being pummeled by the summer sun and we didn't need to put any into buckets that we would haul home. Of course, that means no strawberry jam or strawberry shortcake, but we were just grateful for what we could enjoy.

Curious about pollination, we learned this farm utilizes worker bees that don't sting and do not make honey. They live in cardboard boxes strategically placed throughout the greenhouse.

After 30 minutes, it was time to roll ourselves out of the greenhouse. I don't think we could have fit another berry into our bellies, yet we all had smiles plastered onto our faces. The berries might not have been from our yard or garden, but the experience of getting to eat as many berries as our hearts desired was still a satisfying experience.

Cone what? (Gunma Prefecture 2 of 3)

When I moved to Japan in 2002 to teach English in Osaka, I knew next to nothing about daily life in Japan - especially the food! When I think back to my ignorance, I shake my head in wonder. I was young, energetic, and enthusiastic. I was not knowledgeable or, as my husband likes to say, living in reality.

I remember going to the grocery store and staring at items, trying to figure out what they were and how they were used. This was before the days of everyone having cell phones (I didn’t), so I couldn’t just snap a photo and send it to someone or use Google Translate. Sometimes I was brave enough to ask a friend, but not always. I often relied on asking friends over for cooking dinner together or inquiring when I was invited over to other people’s houses (“This is so delicious! What is it?” “I’ve never heard of that. What does it look like?”).

I lived in an apartment that was contracted by the city. Over the years, many English teachers from abroad had lived in that apartment, several of whom left little things for the next tenant. While going through these items, I found a very helpful book that had photos of products in Japanese grocery stores, along with the names in Japanese and English. This grocery store guidebook proved to be invaluable to me as I tried to learn about the local ingredients. I knew what flour to buy for baking bread and so forth. The one thing it didn’t tell was how to use the foods I had never seen before!

One of these foods I had never before experienced was konnyaku. Either white, gray, or green in color, with a extremely firm jello-like texture, this food was completely new to me. Served in several popular savory recipes, like oden, nikkujaga, and more (all of which I ate for the first time after moving to Japan), it kept popping up on my radar. But I still didn’t know WHAT it really was.

Since first being introduced to konnyaku, I have been a fan. I learned it was made from a root, but didn’t know much beyond that. When planning our trip to Gunma, my husband asked if I would be interested in going to a konnyaku factory. He barely finished the question before I replied with a resounding “Yes!” So, he quickly added Konnyaku Park to our agenda.

Konnyaku Park combines a factory, classes, gift shop, and restaurant into an educational excursion destination.

We started with the factory tour, where we were able to peek down at huge machines processing and packaging konnyaku for sale. 

Along the way we learned that konnyaku is made in two ways - from a konjac potato (Araceae) or powder.  It is high in fiber and low in calories, making it a popular food for people trying to loose weight. The konjac potato is very delicate and takes 2 to 3 years to harvest. They also don’t store very well, which is why it is often turned into powder.

Konnyaku is made into lots of different products, like jelly that Japanese kids love to snack on and noodles for adding to soup for extra body. The gift shop is packed with so many different items made from konnyaku.

Always up for getting our hands dirty, we signed up to make konnyaku. The hands-on class had us mixing the powdered konnyaku with water until it was a very thick consistency. Then we divided the mixture into three bowls so we could make plain, seaweed, and yuzu flavored konnyaku. We rolled the raw dough into ping pong sized balls and then boiled them until cooked (probably 10 minutes).

After making our own konnyaku (that was packaged up for us to take home), we were taken to the all-you-can-eat free restaurant. People can try konnyaku prepared in a variety of ways. While I enjoy konnyaku, it was a bit much to have a meal entirely made from the one ingredient.

With our bellies full and a little bit of newfound knowledge in our heads, we continued on our way to see and do more in Gunma.

Life is just a game

Sticking close to home is getting more and more draining. We have to work harder to find things to do around the house because we feel like we have been on repeat for a while now.

My husband decided it would be fun to buy some more board games. He heard about an international board game shop that might help us find a new game that everyone could play. Why would we need to go to an international board game shop? It all boils down to instructions! We need something that has English instructions so anyone in our household (I) can play at any time.

Just 9km (5.6 miles) away, in Koenji, is Sugorokuya, a cute little shop filled with games from all over the world.

We saw several familiar games and many that we've never seen before from Germany, Australia, and many other places. Each game came with the original instructions as well as a second set in Japanese.

We knew we would pick up a couple new games, but had no idea that we would bring home THE CUTEST GAME EVER MADE! Ever since traveling to Australia in college, I have been obsessed with echidnas! This store carried Echidna Shuffle, a game where little plastic echidnas help bugs find homes in stumps. I'm enamored with this game.

It just goes to show me that when I'm feeling like I'm all alone as a foreigner in this country, there are places I can go to find a little bit of fun.

We're now having lots of family time playing games together. It has been nice to try out some new games.

Don’t hurt your back

As I sit down to write my blog each week, I assess what was exciting, entertaining, or interesting during the past week. Over the course of this past year, I have relied on weekend entertainment, as weekdays consist mainly of cooking, cleaning, and watching Netflix. I am trying to stick close to home, which means there is a lot of redundancy in my life right now.

Three mornings a week, I have regularly scheduled phone dates with loved ones. I am meeting a girlfriend in the park once a week to exchange language lessons - half an hour dedicated to her English writing skills and half an hour dedicated to teaching me important kanji (which has been SO HELPFUL). Otherwise, I’m left to my own devices to find something to do.

The weekends bring a wealth of possibilities. Not because we are traveling places, but because my family is together and we have time to do whatever we want. We have always been the people with lots on our schedule. We like to explore and do interesting things. My husband is great at researching things to do. He looks at community bulletin boards, local newspapers, and websites to find out what is going on in the area. If something sounds interesting, he puts it in our calendar. It is as easy as that. If there are multiple things listed on that day, we can choose from those activities. We don’t have to do anything if we don’t feel like it, but it is nice to have options.

Sometimes this means we do “weird” things. I have reported on many of these random activities on this blog. But it is always in the spirit of having fun together. I often wonder what my son will say about his upbringing as an adult... hopefully something like “We used to do the weirdest things, but it was always fun!”

This past weekend, we participated in a Nerima tradition - a daikon pulling contest. All the daikon harvesting over the last month or so has helped us learn techniques in pulling this long radish. Don’t wiggle it too much, or you can break it. Hold it close to the ground, not up by the greens. Pull straight up. Use your legs, not your back.

We were out of the house by 8 am to bike over to the farm in Oizumi (about a 45 minute ride from our house) where the race was being held. We made sure to have all our paperwork, as this is a very popular contest that requires pre-registration. I heard it “sells out” on the first day every year.

I was impressed with the set up of tents, registration tables, and even portable toilets for the event. But after 14 years, the organizers really know what they are doing. Due to COVID, our temperatures were taken as we entered the field. Then we walked up to the registration table. After giving them our paperwork, we were handed a bib with a number, different paperwork, and a bag (which was a gift).

A small section of the field was roped off for kids to practice pulling daikon. We let our son try by himself, but it’s still pretty challenging. Nerima daikon (the variety we were pulling that day) can be over 1 meter long (3.3 feet). He’s not too much taller than that! It was a good activity for him, since many of the daikon from that day were being donated to the elementary schools for their lunches on Monday.

After he was done practicing, we stood around and waited for the event to begin. The Mayor of Nerima gave a short speech and then someone else walked the audience through a series of warm up exercises. While doing the stretches, I suddenly had a flashback to an episode of 20/20 from when I was a teenager (25+ years ago) where they were discussing Japanese company employees doing stretching exercises every day. These are known as taiso (tie-so) and are still popular today. School children do the routine daily. Anytime the taiso music is played, Japanese people automatically start doing the short routine as a Pavlovian response. But this one was a bit different, special for stretching backs and legs so no one would get injured while pulling.

It was time for everyone to line up based on their bib numbers. We were registered for the size contest, not the speed. A staff member instructed us to pull up to 10 daikon within a certain area (we could pick which ones) in 2 minutes. We let our son pick them and give them a little wiggle, then either my husband or I pulled it in quick succession.

After pulling our 10, we found the longest one and the heaviest, and took those to the recording table. Our longest daikon was 78 cm (31 inches) long. And the heaviest one was 4.1 kg (9 lbs). Neither of these broke any records, but it was fun participating regardless.

In another area, there was the speed race - how many daikon can a single person pull within a certain amount of time. Some of those people were so fast! Most were just having fun. Regardless, it was fun to watch.

As we departed, we handed in our bibs and they gave us 4 daikon as a parting gift. Although I have been getting really good at cooking dishes featuring daikon, we re-gifted 3 of the huge radishes to friends.

It was definitely a unique experience to participate in a daikon pulling contest. But it was also a lot of fun.


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Another daikon recipe my family really enjoyed...

Simmered Daikon with Pork

Ingredients
1/2 daikon, peeled and cut into large chunks (2 inch wedges)
100g (1/4lb) thinly sliced pork
3 tbsp soy sauce
4 tbsp sake
1 tbsp oil
3-5 green onions, cut into 2 inch lengths
1 knob ginger
1 tbsp mirin

Directions

1. Soak the pork in soy sauce and sake for 10 minutes. (I usually do this while I am preparing the vegetables.)
2. Heat a large skillet to medium, with the oil in the pan. Cook the meat until browned.
3. Add the green onion and ginger. Cook for 1 minute.
4. Add the daikon. Cover and simmer until the radish is transparent and can be easily pierced with a fork.
5. Toss in the leftover marinade and simmer over medium heat.
6. Sprinkle with mirin, coating the daikon and meat.
7. Serve.

A day in the city

It feels like it has been forever since we hopped on the train and headed downtown for some fun in the city. If memory serves correctly, we haven’t been downtown since at least March! But after postponing going to the dentist, it was time to be brave and go into the crowded streets of downtown.

Since all three of us cancelled our appointments in July, we all needed a cleaning. Luckily, I was able to schedule our appointments for noon on a Saturday, which meant we didn’t need to get onto the train until 11am, missing the morning rush. Even on the weekends, there are peak hours, of which I had no desire to encounter.

As we walked from the train station to the dentist office, I felt a little weird. Even though we go out and about in Hikarigaoka, I’m not used to being around very many people anymore. It reminded me of when we first moved here and I had to get used to being in crowds. Since masks are a norm here, it didn’t feel any different than a regular winter day, with crowds of people milling around adorned in sweaters, jackets, and masks. Perhaps the number of people was less than usual, but it’s been so long, I really couldn’t tell.

Our dentist visit went smoothly. We started the appointment by rinsing our mouths with disinfectant (basically Listerine), but everything else was pretty standard.  The staff never removed their masks and they wore either regular glasses or eye protection.  I noticed the large window in my exam room was open. Luckily it wasn’t too cold on Saturday. The schools are also keeping windows open at all times, which at this point isn’t a big deal for the kids. But I’m sure it will get more difficult as the temperatures continue to drop.

Once we wrapped up our dentist visit, we headed back outside to explore the city. It would have been a shame to go all that way and head right back. We know that we won’t be seeing very many holiday lights this year, which dampens the holiday cheer for us. So, we took this opportunity to stay and see some.

Before the sun set, we mostly just wandered around, doing nothing in particular. We knew there were some Christmas trees at Roppongi Hills, as well as the German Christmas Market. I was able to buy some of my beloved lebkuchen (a German Christmas cookie that I treat myself to once a year). My son found a Christmas ornament that he wanted to buy for his tiny tree that sits on top of our shelves in the living room. My husband treated himself to a root beer with lunch, which is a very hard to find item in Japan (I’ve heard it smells like a pain relief compress to most Japanese people, so it’s not popular at all).

FujiFilm Square had an amazing exhibit with photos of space taken by the Hubble Telescope. I love that little gallery, as it always has amazing photos on display.  Plus it is free, which is not usually the case in Tokyo.

It is getting dark here around 4:30 pm these days, which meant we didn’t have to stay late to enjoy holiday lights. We stood outside Roppongi Midtown at 5 pm to watch as their lights lit up for the first time that night. We found a small area where there were “light stones”. There were maybe 15 round discs laying in the grass, which children were hopping from one to another, expelling pent up energy. Right at 5, the stones lit up and changed colors with every stomp. By this point, there were exactly 15 kids there and instead of hopping from one to the next, they just stayed on a single disc and danced around to make it change colors. Although Christmas music was playing in the background, the most joyful sound was that of the children laughing as they made the discs flash green, pink, and blue.

We also enjoyed their life-sized snow globe, which kept changing colors. Roppongi Midtown did not include a huge lightshow this year, instead opting for a skating rink.

We didn’t stay long, as the crowds were getting thicker. Instead we grabbed a quick bite for dinner and headed home. We were exhausted! It’s so easy to forget how taxing the city is. I walked further that day than I had since February (according to my steps tracker on my phone). We might bicycle far, but we haven’t just wandered for a very long time. Regardless of how tired we were, I’m glad we stayed for the lights. They bring a certain feeling of magic that is such a treat this time of year.

Pluck and pull

I’ve been making an effort to get out of the house more. I fear another lockdown is coming our way as coronavirus diagnoses are on the rise again. We have been beating records again and again. Yesterday over 2,100 new cases were reported in Japan. While this number isn’t anything compared to many other countries around the world, it is the most Japan has ever seen. I can’t help feeling like I need to take in as much oxygen as I can before another deep dive into the unknown.

I have been meeting with friends in the park for picnics, strolls, and chats. Outdoors is best for many things, including getting a dose of vitamin D. So, I’m getting my allotment of both interaction with humans as well as desperately needed immunity boosting vitamins.

I’ve also been trying to say yes more, instead of staying secluded at home. So when a family friend invited us out for a day at a farm, we jumped at the chance. I wasn’t willing to carpool, but my husband was willing to rent a car to have a day out in the countryside.

The friend’s family participates in a tax program, called Furosato Noze (foo-row-saw-toe no-zay), where they pay taxes in a city they do not reside in and they are rewarded with gifts. Something like 91% of people in Japan live in major cities. So small towns struggle to survive due to a lack of tax funding for infrastructure. By creating this tax program, the country can spread the wealth a bit. Participating in the program takes a little bit of work to set it up. So, to entice people to pay their taxes in their town, incentives that are special to the region are offered. Many people chose programs that send them gifts of food. Our friend selected a program where he can take his family out to a farm eight or nine times a year to plant and harvest produce. They can invite people to go with to share their rewards, if they so desire.

We headed out early in our rental car, following the friend’s car, for the hour and a half drive. It didn’t feel long at all before we were surrounded by farmed fields and tree covered hills. We parked in a grassy area in the middle of a farm. The kids quickly disappeared toward a play area while the adults got situated and our friend registered everyone.

This farm day featured two popular fall treats - picking kiwi and pulling daikon. Although we picked kiwi just the week before, we were excited to do it again in the beautiful setting of the farm. The kiwi vines were small in quantity, but the fruit was extremely plentiful. Obviously the plant loves having the space and healthy soil of the countryside. It didn’t take long for the kids to fill the bag given to us by the farmers - the amount allotted for each family participating in the tax program.

Next, we headed over to the daikon field. Our friends had planted a row of daikon earlier in the year and now we were getting to harvest them. We were given shovels to aid in getting the long root vegetables out of the ground. Not wanting to break them, we loosened the dirt and the kids wiggled the daikon until it could be easily pulled out. We harvested 20 or so daikon and only broke one of them. These kids are professionals!

The day before our excursion, I contacted our friend to ask what we should do for lunch. We had the option of going out to eat or having a BBQ. I wanted to have a BBQ, so I called and got details because a BBQ in Japan is very different than in the US. The farm had a BBQ area where we could rent a grill for ¥1500 ($14.50USD) for the afternoon. We decided to bring yakiniku (grilled meat and vegetables) as well as yakisoba (grilled noodles with meat and vegetables). The BBQ area was very nice.

The adults settled in to cook while the kids ran up a huge hill and rode a huge roller slide back down several times. I even went on it more than once. It was so much fun.

The time spent at the farm was so much fun. The kids all had a blast and the adults had plenty of time to relax and enjoy the outdoors. What a great way to get more mileage out of your tax dollars!



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Once home, I looked up recipes for daikon. I wanted to use the daikon, as well as yuzu that another friend brought me as a gift. I ended up making this one - which was a huge hit - based on a iheartumami.com recipe.


DAIKON WITH CHICKEN IN YUZU SAUCE

INGREDIENTS
1 lb Daikon radish
1 lb Chicken thighs, boneless and skinless
10 mushrooms, optional
1 tbsp potato starch
1.5 tbsp olive oil
2.5 tsp grated ginger
1 tsp coarse sea salt, plus more to taste
1 cup chicken or vegetable stock
1.5 tbsp yuzu juice
1.5 tbsp soysauce
2 tbsp green onions, chopped

INSTRUCTIONS

1. Slice off both ends of the daikon radish. Peel off the outer skin. Dice it to cube shape, about 1 to 1 ½ -inch cubes.
2. Dice the chicken to 1 ½ -inch bite sizes.
3. Slice off the bottom end of the mushrooms and break them to pieces, if using.
4. In a small bowl, make a slurry with starch and 1 tbsp water.
5. Preheat a large stir-fry pan or Dutch oven over medium heat. Add the oil, chicken, ginger, and 1 tsp salt. Sauté for about 3 minutes.
6. Add stock, daikon radish, and mushrooms. Make sure the radish cubes are in contact with the liquid. Cover with a lid and bring it to boil, about 3-4 minutes.
7. Then lower the heat to medium-low and simmer for 15-20 minutes or until the daikon turns soft and can easily be poked through with a fork or chopstick. The color will turn from pale to translucent. Stir the pot periodically to ensure even cooking.
8. Season with yuzu juice and soy sauce. Stir the slurry one more time before adding it to the pot. Gently toss for 30 seconds to thicken the sauce. Off heat, taste and add more salt, if desired.
9. Garnish with green onions. Serve warm.

Escaping reality

At the end of 2002, I had been living in Japan for a couple of months and I experienced my first real battle of culture shock mixed with homesickness. I had never lived far from home (college was only an hour or two away to either parent’s house). I broke down in tears at small challenges and felt desperate to be with my loved ones. The emotional rollercoaster was confusing and overwhelming.

When my boyfriend (now husband) called to chat, I told him about my distress and he told me “I’ll be right there.” Soon, he arrived and informed me we were having a movie night. I shrugged my shoulders and invited him in. A quiet night inside sounded perfect for my overstimulated brain. I was a bit surprised that he chose an animated movie, but I wasn’t going to argue about it.

As I settled in, the movie “My Neighbor Totoro” started to play. It is a very famous cartoon about 2 young sisters who move to a new house with their dad while their mom is in the hospital. As they are adjusting to their current circumstances, they meet a new imaginary friend, Totoro. He is a big, soft, kind animal-like creature that brings them joy and comfort. And he did the same for me. I fell in love with that sweet creature on that day, and he’s held a special place in my heart ever since.

My Neighbor Totoro, and 21 other full-length movies, are the creation of Studio Ghibli. The studio has a cult-like following, with many famous characters that rival Mickey Mouse in popularity here. Although I’ve seen 17 of their movies, several of which I’ve watched countless times, Totoro always ranks top in my book.

Holding this adoration in my heart, I was excited to learn about the Studio Ghibli Museum in Mitaka, a suburb of Tokyo, on a trip to Japan with friends back in 2008. We were able to get tickets and made a special excursion to Tokyo to go. That museum visit had a lasting impact on me.

Because I had such a wonderful experience the first time, when we moved here, I wanted to take my son so badly. He had only watched two of their movies at that point (My Neighbor Totoro and Kiki’s Delivery Service), but it was on my list of things to do.

I didn’t realize how difficult it was/is to get tickets. There are only so many available. Each ticket is for a specified date and time. The tickets are released on a certain date each month for the following month. Tickets are not sold at the door. You have to log onto their website and purchase the tickets super fast. They sell out each month in as fast as ten minutes!

I’d pester my husband about it here and there, but the timing was always wrong and there wouldn’t be any tickets available. Then, a couple weeks ago, he popped his head into the living room while I was watching tv and casually mentioned “I got tickets for Ghibli Museum. I put it in the calendar.” Then he left, not waiting for me to jump off the couch screaming in excitement and give him a big kiss.

Knowing it was 12 km (7.5 miles) away from our house (located in Inokashira Park), we’ve been riding our bikes a lot to make sure we could make it on our own two wheels versus taking public transportation. Our son was up for the challenge as well. Luckily, the weather cooperated and getting there by bikes was much easier than any of us expected.

By the time we arrived, I thought our son would be a bit worn out, but he was jumping up and down saying over and over “I’m so excited!” Our tickets were for 2pm, and there was a lot of anticipation on all of our parts to get inside and see everything. There was a short line, as people had their temperatures taken and were kindly instructed to use hand sanitizer before entering the building.

Guests are not allowed to use cellphones or take any photos inside the museum. Although disappointing, I really do feel I was able to enjoy the museum even more without the distraction of getting good photos.

A stained glass window depicting Laputa.  I took this from outside the museum.

Seeing Totoro just outside the entrance.

We started in "The Beginning of Movement" room, where we saw examples of stop animation and layering cells to give movies depth. Then we explored the replicas of the studio offices (called "Where a Film is Born"). We also reserved a time slot for our son to climb on the life-sized cat bus (from My Neighbor Totoro). Since it was a beautiful day, we were able to climb the stairs to the rooftop garden to see a statue of a robot from my husband’s favorite Ghibli movie, Laputa or Castle in the Sky. They allow photos up there because it is outside.

We stopped by the gift shop and then went to see the animated short that is only viewable at the museum. These movies change monthly. The one we saw was about a hiker who used apples to thank the spirits for guiding her on a safe journey. It was really cute. All three of us enjoyed it a lot.

When it was time to go, we felt satiated. The museum is not especially foreigner friendly. They don’t have any English (or other language) descriptions or information beyond the map. (You can buy a book in the giftshop that details everything in the museum in English.) But it didn’t matter. Studio Ghibli makes people feel good and just being there and seeing their displays made me happy.

I'm so glad we were finally able to take our son. It is a beautiful museum featuring characters close to our heart. Although it isn't really interactive, it is still a magical experience for everyone who goes.