Museums and Shopping in Tokyo

Our last few days in Tokyo were planned mostly around a couple of scheduled museum visits and souvenir shopping. Through this we also had the opportunity to visit a few other wards within Tokyo that we hadn’t been to yet.

The first museum appointment we had was for the Gundam Museum in Odaiba. Upon entering the museum there were multiple photo points, including one where you could pay an extra fee to stand in a “life-size” Gundam. The main featured attraction was a large dome theater which played special compilation videos every 20 minutes. It was cool seeing the dome theater, but I think I would have gotten more out of it if I were more familiar with the Gundam-verse. 

"Life-size" Gundam you can stand in

More interesting to me was the exhibit on the design and construction of Gundam miniatures. They had a video explaining the entire process and some physical models illustrating each step. It was kind of strange and also very cool to see CAD models of the Gundam pieces, and also the molds used to manufacture the parts in the factory. Attached to the museum was a large gift shop where you could actually purchase the Gundam models. There were some really great deals, basically half off what you would pay in the states, and almost all of us ended up buying a few. Overall the museum was kind of small, easily completed in about an hour, but still worth going to if you have any interest in Gundam (or toy manufacturing) at all.

CAD models of Gundam parts

The other museum we went to was the Ghibli Museum in Mitaka, one of my favorite places we went to on this entire trip. The entire museum experience matched what you would expect from a Ghibli movie - an escape from reality into a beautiful, whimsical world full of colorful characters and unique landscapes. The building was an attraction in itself, containing a maze-like path inside and designed aesthetically to match the art style of the movies. Within the museum there were many exhibits on animation techniques, storyboarding, and coloring. There was also an incredibly detailed recreation of Miyazaki’s studio, filled with original character sketches, paintings of movie backgrounds, and travel books from which Miyazaki drew his inspiration. On the top floor there was a giant cat bus big enough to go inside. Unfortunately only elementary school kids were allowed inside, otherwise I would have totally been down to ride inside the cat bus. 

Giant totoro greeting visitors to the museum

The gift shops were also very interesting to browse. In the “library”, you were free to peruse the books on display, ranging from picture storybooks to biographies, and all the books were available for purchase if you found one you liked. The actual shop area contained everything else Ghibli you could possibly want, including stuffed animals, figurines, DVDs, and socks. Unfortunately the museum closed at 6pm (our ticket only allowed for entry starting at 4), so we didn’t have that much time. I would have liked to explore more, but there’s always the potential for a future visit, especially since tickets only ran on the order of 1000 yen.

Square Enix cafe

Of the many places we went to on our whirlwind shopping spree, the two places that stuck out the most to me were the Square Enix cafe near Shinjuku, and the Pokemon Center in Ikebukuro. The Square Enix cafe was a bit out of the way - about a 15 minute walk from the Shinjuku JR station. It was located in a small nondescript dome-like building with a very different atmosphere than the Ghibli Museum. When you walk inside, the main cafe and gift shop area is very clean and simply adorned. The back room is a lot more impressive, containing lighted displays of expensive figurines, and a recreation of the crystal chamber from Bravely Default in the middle of the room. The actual merchandise there was relatively expensive, but the cafe is definitely worth a visit for anyone who has ever played a Square Enix game. 

The Square Enix showroom

The Pokemon Center had the exactly the opposite sort of atmosphere, located in the middle of a busy mall with bright colors everywhere. They had everything Pokemon related, including food, cards, t-shirts, and Pikachu plushies ranging in size from fitting in the palm of your hand to the height of a small child. I was tempted to get one of the larger Pikachu’s, but then I would’ve had to buy another suitcase. 

The biggest Pokemon Center in Tokyo

With these last few days in Tokyo, our trip has come to a close. This was most of our first times in Japan, so I’m glad we were able to see so many places. Now that we’ve learned a little more about the country and gotten a little wiser about traveling there, I think for future trips I would like to do more of a focused visit of a few places. There are still many parts of Japan that we hadn’t gotten anywhere near - we haven’t gone anywhere outside of the Kanto or Kansai regions, and I know for a fact that I’d like to visit Hokkaido and Okinawa someday. If anything, this trip has just made us even more curious and excited about visiting the rest of the country. We will definitely be back!

じゃ、また！

- MC 4/21

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