Nippon Journey – Winter 2006 : Day 1

(Mon, Dec 25 2006) – Christmas Day

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Breakfast at the soba shop near the hotel

Boarded the train to Mitaka, the suburb where the
Studio Ghibli Museum is located. I’ve arranged the purchase of our entrance tickets, before our arrival in Japan.

There was a bus going around the area stopping at Ghibli Museum. I thought there wouldn’t be much visitors but I was wrong. There was a queue for the bus and a young group of HK visitors in front of us. It was too rush to take a picture of the bus. Upon arrival at Ghibli Museum, we headed straight for the Robot from Laputa Castle because from researching, there can be quite a queue for photo taking with the robot. Took some time to find our way up to the robot though, because the place is like a maze.

The spiral staircase leading to the top where the robot is.

View from the rooftop

Studio Ghibli isn’t really very big but it is quite an interesting and cosy place. It is not a theme park but more of a studio/museum.

Photos are not allowed to be taken inside so …

The female toilet . The ‘flushing sound’ button is another ‘interesting but useful??’ feature.
When pressed, it makes an flushing toilet sound without actually flushing the toilet but sounds a bit artificial. I think the purpose is to ‘mask’ the sound of users urinating. Hmmm….

One of my fav Ghibli characters – ‘susuwatari‘. Susuwatari or ‘soot sprites’ are the black, fuzzy, spherical creatures that appeared in My Neighbor Totoroand Spirited Away. You can get a susuwatari product here.

A smiling manhole

this water pump is from My Neighbor Totoro, i think

Bought lots of Ghibli stuff…there were so much to buy. If you can’t make it to Ghibli Museum, you can still get nice Ghibli stuff here.

We decided to walk back to the train station as recommended by the map guide to have a feel of the local residential area. The walk took about 30mins along a small canal. Peaceful and quiet. Our first glimpse at suburban Tokyo

This is how the bus stop looks like…

The bus terminal near the train station, where we boarded the bus this morning

Past midday. Decided to head for Disneyland cos it is the last day for the Xmas specials and fireworks. How often can you see fireworks going off beside the Disney’s iconic Cinderalla Castle. An opportunity not to be missed.
We had to go to Maitama station which is to the east (Mitaka is in the west) and switch to the Disney train that goes around the Disney area.

Alighting from the Disney train before the main entrance, we found rows of lockers and thought it’ll be a good idea to put some of our load in there. We weren’t sure how to use the lockers or how to determine if the lockers are available or taken. After some figuring out, we learnt that those with keys hanging from it means availability. Unfortunately the only one left with a key hanging from it wasn’t functioning so we had to proceed with our packs and the Studio Ghibli bag. Hopefully, it’ll be okay when we’re on the rides.

We’re here

This is the row of stores selling Disney products just after the entrance

For a moment, I can’t believe I am actually in a Disneyland looking at the iconic castle.

Disney crackers for sale at the retail stores in Disneyland

A parade

One of the rides

The best thing at Disneyland

The Dumbo ride at dusk. It was a cold day and got colder, almost freezing as nightfalls. We weren’t armed with gloves or beanie or scarves. We even bought a cup of oolong tea from a stall which turned lukewarm in minutes. It started to rain later and we heard an announcement that they are cancelling the fireworks which was disappointing cos we came today for that.

the icon at dusk

queuing for It’s a Small World ride. I know it’s part of visiting Disneyland but the queues are tedious and tiresome, especially so when it’s cold and wet.

Our last ride and the best was the Haunted Mansion. There was a special edition for Christmas – Nightmare before Christmas. This photo was taken earlier, before dusk.

After the Haunted Mansion, we were about to head for the exit, a bit hesitant in case there was no cancellation of the fireworks display. Passing under the Castle where there are more souvenir stores

I have long wanted to see the Castle at night and now I’m here, standing under it, looking at it. It is brilliant at night, when lit.

Still pouring

Almost instantly the castle lit up indicating some show must be on and indeed there was a special Chrismas show by Mickey and friends.

After it ended we thought this must be it and continue to walk to the exit and suddenly there was a commotion in the crowd and the next thing we knew, we were watching the fireworks going off beside the castle. Wow…just like we’ve always seen on TV during special events..the fireworks beside the Disney Castle.