Friday started sluggishly. Mum and I blame Tech Support. Our aim was to be at the Ghibli Museum at 10am, but instead we left around 10am. The train ride out takes a fair amount of time because the museum is in a Tokyo suburb area called Mitaka. Getting there wasn't too difficult because me and Tech Support had been there before.
We introduced Mum to the natives.
As before Ghibli was a little magical. Certainly being under 13 probably makes it all the more wonderful, but there is still something about the construction that calls to my whimsy. The tight little metal spiral staircases and thin wooden bridges across the open third floor. Of course you can't take pictures inside, but there are pictures worth taking outside.
After exploring an exhibit on the Aardman Studios and nearly being crushed to death (and drained of all money) in the tiny gift shop we got to go to the little theater and watch a short movie. Last time it had been a fairly easy to understand adventure about some young kids that was reminiscent of the Muppet Babies. This time it was a strange story about a kid who gets some seeds which grow a planet from a mole and a frog, and then he has to go back to the city but then he... Yeah, it was confusing. But pretty. My Japanese is just good enough so I can understand some of the side comments (such useful things as "I feel sick" and "64 years"), and enough to get confused.
After Ghibli we headed back across the town to check out some of Ginza. Ginza is another trendy, shopping area of Tokyo, but first we needed somewhere to eat. Last time Tech Support and I had explored the streets of ginza for hours before eating at a strange Korean place almost entirely because we were waved in by a member of the staff. Luckily this time it was far easier, as we found a restaurant in our guidebook just a few feet from where we were. A german beerhall. It was different.
The type of place where when you say "non-smoking" you are put across the aisle way (about 4 feet away) from the smoking session and the staff need to flagged down. The food was very tasty anyway, and Mum managed to spray herself with soy sauce.
Afterwards we went and found another Uni Qlo, and did a bit of damage but not as much as before. While I adore how everything fits me very well, the fact that I was now a common size meant that all the Sale Items in my size were gone, and Mum left the real winner with three pairs of pants. I still got a fantastic pig... dog... shirt. And a hat.
A brief rant: Mum has already blogged about this, but taking your Hiking Boots Off so you can stand on a 2 1/2 by 2 1/2 piece of carpet (and not NICE carpet) and try on some pants, is very, very tiresome. Day 2 was no better than Day 1.
Anyway, poor Tech Support had suffered well through the shopping and it was now his turn. First we hit the Mac Store which was fun, though really just another Mac Store, only with a lot of Japanese customers. We played around with the macs and checked to see if there was anything really cool and unique (nope) before going to the Sony Building. At the Sony Building we could play around in the show rooms with Sony Products - tomorrow, because it was still under renovations today.
Throughout the day I'd been feeling a bit crummy, I was catching a cold from my boy, and by the end I was feeling pretty bad. We went back to the hotel, at which point I had a bad headache, and I crashed, curling up in my futon and falling asleep before it was even 8pm.
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