Friday 23rd April
We started out the day by catching a train to the Mitaka Station. From there we had a pleasant 15 minute walk to the Ghibli Museum. Mitaka is a very nice area with larger houses and gardens than those usually found in these parts. Studio Ghibli is the company which has produced many animated films which have gained popularity outside of Japan including Kiki's Delivery Service, Spirited Away and My Neighbour Totoro. Most of the studio's films have been produced by Hiyao Miyazaki, who is the Executive Director of the Museum. There were many young children at the Museum and they were having a ball climbing all over the 'cat bus'. The cat bus was a character 
from the film My Neighbour Totoro. The Museum had some very interesting exhibits showing the processes involved in making an animated film, as well as a huge robot (from 'Castle in the Sky') on the roof. We also saw a new short animated film. The laughter of the group of young school children in the cinema was priceless! The Museum visit was something I had been looking forward to and I wasn't disappointed.From Mitaka we caught the train to Shibuya Station as we planned to do some shopping. I did the tourist thing by posing for a photo next to the statue of Hachiko, the faithful dog who waited at the station every day for his master to come home. I'm a bit lost for words about Shibuya. If we were there to buy Louis Vitton or Gucci products, we would have done very well, but we were only after a few souvenirs. Still, the sight of just another ordinary day in Shibuya was worth the time spent. Shibuya has an enormous intersection criss-crossed with pedestrian crossings. The lights for all the pedestrians change at the same time, so when the 'green 
man' appears a HUGE wave of people surges from the footpaths and swarms across the intersection. Then the cars get their turn, and by the time the pedestrian lights change again another huge crowd has accumulated ready for the next swarm. I can't imagine how these people can live here without going absolutely mad. Anyway, after browsing in a few shop windows, we realised that this wasn't going to be the place for a few souvenirs. Although we were quite tired by this time, we decided that we should visit Roppongi, which involved a change to the subway system. Roppongi turned out to be more of the same - noise, people and shops. There were more karaoke bars than I could have imagined, but we were a bit early for the night-life to have started. After walking around Roppongi for a while I had really had all I could take for one day, and we still had to get back to Ikebukuro, which involved going by subway back to Shinjuku, then changing to a JR train to Ikebukuro. John did his civic duty again by waking a man up when we reached the Shinjuku Station. The man had been snoozing with his head back and had been 
snoring loudly, much to the amusement of his fellow travellers. John made the assumption (correctly, as it turned out) that this man might have wanted to get off at Shinjuku as this is the station where many lines meet and transfers are made. John gave him a shake and said 'Shinjuku' and the man woke up and bounded out of his seat. You didn't know that John could speak Japanese, did you! Maybe Shinjuku is Japanese for "Wake up and change trains". We finally made it back to Ikebukuro Station and found a nice place for dinner (it's getting a bit monotonous saying how good and how cheap it is). By the time we dragged ourselves back to the hotel, I was ready to collapse in a heap. Which I did.
man' appears a HUGE wave of people surges from the footpaths and swarms across the intersection. Then the cars get their turn, and by the time the pedestrian lights change again another huge crowd has accumulated ready for the next swarm. I can't imagine how these people can live here without going absolutely mad. Anyway, after browsing in a few shop windows, we realised that this wasn't going to be the place for a few souvenirs. Although we were quite tired by this time, we decided that we should visit Roppongi, which involved a change to the subway system. Roppongi turned out to be more of the same - noise, people and shops. There were more karaoke bars than I could have imagined, but we were a bit early for the night-life to have started. After walking around Roppongi for a while I had really had all I could take for one day, and we still had to get back to Ikebukuro, which involved going by subway back to Shinjuku, then changing to a JR train to Ikebukuro. John did his civic duty again by waking a man up when we reached the Shinjuku Station. The man had been snoozing with his head back and had been 
snoring loudly, much to the amusement of his fellow travellers. John made the assumption (correctly, as it turned out) that this man might have wanted to get off at Shinjuku as this is the station where many lines meet and transfers are made. John gave him a shake and said 'Shinjuku' and the man woke up and bounded out of his seat. You didn't know that John could speak Japanese, did you! Maybe Shinjuku is Japanese for "Wake up and change trains". We finally made it back to Ikebukuro Station and found a nice place for dinner (it's getting a bit monotonous saying how good and how cheap it is). By the time we dragged ourselves back to the hotel, I was ready to collapse in a heap. Which I did.
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