Ghibli Museum

Ghibli Museum
ジブリ美術館
Ghibli Museum; ジブリ美術館
	; The museum front (with a cartoon effect applied)
Location	Kantō
Builder	camelfantasy
Construction period	October 1, 2017 - October 8, 2017
Size	86m x 166m x 39m

The Ghibli Museum (Japanese: ジブリ美術館 Jiburi Bijutsukan) is a museum in Kantō showcasing the works of the Japanese animation studio Studio Ghibli. The museum is modeled after its real-life counterpart in Mitaka, Tokyo.

Exhibitions and features

"Where a Film is Born" exhibit

The museum's bottom floor is an exhibit room showing the history and science of animation, including a three-dimensional zoetrope named "Bouncing Totoro", with models of characters from My Neighbor Totoro. The first floor has a mock-up of an animation studio. Named "Where a Film is Born", the five-room exhibit showcases the creative process of an animation filmmaker such as illustration techniques. The exhibit also demonstrates the process of creating an animated film, with sketches, storyboarding, keyframing, cleanup, coloring, and background painting.

Tri Hawks

Tri Hawks is a reading room and bookstore in the Ghibli Museum, filled with books recommended by Hayao Miyazaki. The name Tri Hawks comes from a pun on the original city's name, "Mi-taka", means three hawks in Japanese.

Mamma Aiuto

Mamma Aiuto, is the souvenir gift shop named after the band of sky pirates in the movie Porco Rosso. The name Mamma Aiuto translates to "mama, help me" in Italian, as Porco Rosso was set in Italy. Among other items, it sells classic and non-Japanese animation movies under the eponymous Ghibli Museum Library label.

Straw Hat Café

The Straw Hat Café is the Ghibli Museum's only sit-down restaurant. It was created with the help of a housewife as Miyazaki wanted the café's food to reflect home cooking. The Café serves hot and cold foods, snacks, and desserts. Sold at the takeout section is an original alcoholic beverage: "Valley of the Wind" beer, created by a collaboration with Dairy Kingdom Oratche, a microbrewery in Tanna Basin. The beverage's label was hand drawn by Gorō Miyazaki, Hayao Miyazaki's son, who is an animation director at Studio Ghibli as well.

Catbus Room

The Catbus Room is a playroom for children aged 12 and below, with a giant Catbus toy to play in. In order for the Catbus to fit in the museum it is downsized from the original film scale seen in My Neighbor Totoro.

Rooftop Garden

Museum roof with a Laputan robot and several small pools

On the museum's roof is a garden with a life-sized statue of a robot from the final episode of Lupin III Part II and Castle in the Sky. The control room keystone from the movie Castle in the Sky can also be found here, bearing an inscription in Old Persian cuneiform.

Short films

The Ghibli Museum shows several short films exclusive to the museum. Located in the basement of the museum is The Saturn Theater. The theater has notable windows where automated shades lower and open before and after each showing of its short films. Each guest can watch one of the following short films once per visit:

Koro's Big Walk (コロの大さんぽ Koro no dai-sampo)
Water Spider Monmon (水グモもんもん Mizugumo Monmon)
Mei and the Kittenbus (めいとこねこバス Mei to Konekobasu)
The Day I Harvested a Star (星をかった日 Hoshi o Katta Hi)
The Whale Hunt (くじらとり Kujiratori)
Looking for a home (やどさがし Yadosagashi)
A Sumo Wrestler's Tail (ちゅうずもう Chūzumō)
Mr. Dough and the Egg Princess (パン種とタマゴ姫 Pan dane to tamago hime)
Treasure Hunting (たからさがし Takara Sagashi)

Museum tickets

Tickets to the Ghibli Museum can only be bought in advance. At the museum's entry, the tickets are exchanged for a 35mm film strip that features a scene from one of the Studio Ghibli films.

Planned versions

Currently, there is only one location of the museum. A limited number of versions were planned to be sold periodically in the future, depending on interest. Each location would have had a different special exhibition for uniqueness.

As camelfantasy was banned, other versions of the museum are not likely to be constructed in other cities.