February 12

I woke up at 7:00am today for my interview. I was supposed to get a call at 7:15, but no one called until around 7:30, so I was getting a bit worried. In between, I fell back to sleep (because I was so exhausted from staying up to check my facts). The pone finally did ring though, and I had my interview with three members of the Rice University staff. I’m still kicking myself for falling back to sleep and not being well-rested for the interview. The questions included; introduce yourself, why did you apply to nanotech, what are your goals (clarified to pertain to my career), what are you doing/why in Japan, what have you learned about Japanese thinking and how might it apply to the lab, and at the end of your semester, might you want to return home? I screwed up a lot with vagueness and probably the last question’s answer, which was “It is possible, but I have only been here (in Japan) for a month, so I would not lie to give a definite answer.” I felt so crappy afterward, that I just went to sleep and left it up to everyone else to wake up.

That was a horrible idea, because we woke up at 11:00 (one hour before the ticket time for the Ghibli museum). This, of course, was the commute time alone (15 minutes greater than expected) and with everyone’s slowness (I’m really frustrated with how much my travel companions dawdle) we showed up one hour after the ticket time. Along the way, we had to decide wheather to ride the bus (or walk to save 200en) for the last leg of the commute. Since everyone had shown a lack of decisiveness, I made the executie decision to walk, at which point I was confronted with “When someone voices a concern, you don’t say ‘Let’s go this way,’ you say ‘Oh, okay’” from one of my trave mates. There was a voice of cern with the added time walking woudl batke, but no one had said “let’s take the bus,” an there was a previous comment of “we’re going to be late anyway,” on the table, so I was a bit taken aback by the defensive proclamation. I was really concerned because the website stated explicitely that you were supposed to appear within a half-hour of the ticket time, that changes would not be made, and (of course) I had paid already for all (5000en) fo the tickets, whether we oculd use them or not.

In the end, we did ride the bus to the museum. Wehen we got there, the ticket man was rather unhappy that our tickets were out of date (time) and asked us a couple of times why we were late. I explained that we had gotten a bit lost (whcih is pretty much true) and that we were staying far away. Eventually, he told us that “this time,” it was alright, but gave us the impression taht if we weren’t foreigners (and hadn’t been albe to speak any Japanese) we would be out of luck.

When we were finally admitted into the museum though, all of the crappiness of the day lifted. The Ghibli museum sia wonderful place (except for that clause about not being able to take pictures inside). There are three stories of intriguing thigns and the museum itself is like the inside of Hal’s moving castle. There is a (very narrow) spiral starcase, elevators that look like they’re from a Miyazaki film, stained-glass windows with his characters in them, small archways to duck under before coming onto indoor balconies, and a bridge on the third floor over the interior of the house. On the first floor, there is a room with beautiful displays. Some are multiple sheets of glass with paintings on them to look like 3-D paintings. There are models of characters in successive poses that spin with a strobe light on them so that it looks like they’re moving. There is a robot in a tube with birds on it that spins and gives the illusion of the birds flying (similar to the models). There is also a film reel with the machine and tons of gears.

On the second floor is Miyazaki’s work rooms. There are hundreds of paintings and sketches from various movies all over the walls, what looks like a work desk (complete with spent colored pencils, peanuts, and unfinished storyboard columns) and a library (with books, shop tools, models of airships, and other objects that make it look like a work place). It seems Miyazaki’s home is as detailed and intriguing as his complex drawings of the inside of Hal’s castle or the witch’s home in Spirited Away. He seems to work a lot with mechanical items too. There was a piece on the wall to the workroom that looks like an airship with four robots pedaling, all moving together by way of gears.

There is also a “Petite Louvre” with reproductions of famous renaissance paintings. Inside, there is also a tiny model of what looks like an old European town and a fake well, complete with dripping water inside and a television (showing reflecting water) inside.

The third floor holds the gift shop, which, as planned, sells museum quality (and priced) items. I didn’t buy anything because I couldn’t find anything I wanted (that I couldn’t get cheaper elsewhere). That floor also held the cat bus (which is large enough for children to play in (It’s even encouraged).

Outside the third floor (on a balcony) was a larger outdoor spiral staircase to the roof. There were benches that looked like fish and made chiming noises when you turned a crank where the eye should be, as well as an iron water fountain. The main attraction though was the 15-ish foot robot on the roof.

After we had seen everything, we went to the movie room (on the first floor) to watch an original short about a water spider and a skipping water bug. It is amazing how Miyazaki can take something so mundane and, without the use of words, give personalities, emotions, intrigue, and beauty to everything. The movie was short, but told the story of a spider who meets a mosquito and saves it from being eaten by a fish, then a crawfish, and makes friends with it, only to be separated in the end. Everything was beautiful; the sound effects and orchestral compositions were perfect, and the representation of water and air bubbles is unparalleled in animated rendition. Even the simplest of organisms are presented and play important roles.

Eventually though, everyone became hungry (we didn’t have time for breakfast) and we went in search of food around 4:00. We walked back the way the bus had come and split off to find food. Three of us ate at the same restaurant we ate at the last night (Yoshinoya), and I went with one other to search for something more Japanese. We walked up and down the strip only to come back to the corner our travel mates were eating on. We did find a restaurant nearby that had (a bit) more selection, but it turned out to be essentially the same. We were able to get tuna though instead of bacon and I helped increase my tolerance for wasabi by using an entire packet for my bowl of tuna, nori, and rice. The tuna resembled a hamburger steak (uncooked) though, so I added a bit of soy sauce too.

Afterward, we headed back to Ueno to meet Yoshi to go to Ameyoko. We weren’t sure exactly where he was, so we had Dan in the middle of the train station waving his arms like a crazy person until Yoshi arrived (and walked past him without noticing). The funny thing was; no one else noticed either.

Ameyoko turned out to be like Osu, but smaller. We ran into the guy who used to room with my travel buddies (weird). We didn’t spend much time there though, before heading back to the hostel (for another night of karaoke). Before we left though, I hopped in a gundam pod. This one’s for you, Jean-Karlo.

When we got back, we spent a ton of time talking (of course) and went to dinner (sort of). We went to the vending machine restaurant again and I (inadvertently) ordered the same thing as yesterday. After we had finished (but before we left) the Australians came to take us to karaoke (by putting their faces on the windows and yelling). Yoshi split to catch his last train home and I left for the hostel (not wanting to spend any more money). After a while of being at the hostel, I received a call from Dan’s phone from a (drunk) Australian proclaiming that they wouldn’t start until I came, but I deferred on the count that I didn’t drink and didn’t want to spend the money). I think he lost interest in the argument, so he turned the phone over to Dan.

I am learning about myself from my experiences; I need my alone time, I don’t like indecisiveness, and I like to move at a fast pace to get to the things I’m interested in so I can spend the majority of my time enjoying those interests.