I walked to the station with my luggage early in the morning, very much enjoyed my flight, and enjoyed my hotel equally so. All very nice. Things were a little touch and go when I arrived, being new to the area, but I got where I needed to go.
From the sketchpad Rachael gave me.
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I was just thinking, maybe I don't know how to have fun anymore. Losing interest in games & anime, not really caring for amusement parks, longing instead for the simple sight of the sea* and a quiet place to relax, I thought to myself, "Perhaps I am already elderly and my days of youthful excitement are behind me".
But boarding this enormous plane, I feel excited. Being greeted warmly by the flight attendants in two languages made me happy.
I must try to put less though into money- rather, I should use my attention more efficiently.
The view from the plane window is incredible. I can't tell where the sky and sea part. The low hanging clouds on the water are in distinctly geometric shapes. Listening to Chop Suey, I feel great.
Note to self. Research green lecherous erection ANA mascot.
*The water looked like milk. The fog that is ever present hung low, blurring where the water ended and the sky began. The sky above was clear and the light brilliant and clean. I imagine a beautiful afterlife could easily look like that. I got misty eyed but wasn't fast enough with my camera.
The Ghibli Museum
I had so many thoughts- most of them while approaching the place. The tall, dense trees on the other side of the road and overwhelming raucous chorus of the cicadas seemed to beckon me to another world long before I reached the museum. I was surprised when peeking around I saw an orange cat fast asleep on a bicycle seat. The smell of plants was wonderful.
The museum itself was as intimate and insightful as I thought it would be. There is a thick crust of "Tourist" in each place, but underneath that were things that stirred me up inside. I have always and still do consider animation a true magic. More than anything the museum was a celebration of that magic- illustrating simply and powerfully the process of making still images come together to create life. For being one of the most successful animation studios worldwide, the atmosphere was not of enshrining their work and praising themselves, but rather offering up what they have done and letting the guests make up their own minds. I could have spent hours in the rooms covered in the design and production notes and works of the team, but the short movie took too much time. It was cute, the animation was good, and it was interesting they used crayon or pastel on toothy paper for the backgrounds instead of cel paint or goache. The story was mildly insipid and lacked the profundity of the other ghibli works, but it was my first time ever watching a ghibli film on a big screen with other people. I was very interested in how the movie affected them, and how the theater experience changed the film.
More impressive to me was the "Animation of life" running on a complex series of film projectors in one of the exhibit halls, demonstrating the projection process. It had no sound and was short, but was truly beautifully animated with a clear, understandable explanation of evolution.
It is the kind of place best experienced alone- wandered into unintentionally, like one of the heroes of ghibli's films. But barring that it was a wonderful place to visit. In that place someone who loves animation and art as I do can feel past the commercial ventures and only mostly-interested tourist fare, into the minds of truly marvelous artists with a great passion for sharing their experience with the young. I would love to meet Mr. Miyazaki someday, though I would need at least an afternoon over tea to even roughly convey my gratitude and admiration of what he has done for me as a viewer.
That being said I think I will now look through my very expensive and very lovely books that I feel very satisfied with the purchase of.
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((and from there I did so.))
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