It is hot. So very, very hot. Yesterday, we had 37° C, but it felt like 48 (officially confirmed by the authorities).
In the morning, we went out to the bay to Tokyo Big Sight, where Comiket takes place twice a year and attracts more than 500.000 visitors each time. And that’s about the amount of people we met. It was crazy. Over the top. Fascinating. Emotional. Awesome. Now, if you have no geekish genes in your body, you might want to skip this part, as you might get bored by reading about Shingeki no Kyojin cosplayers, multiple (and, in some cases, male) Madokas, or the awesome limited edition Comiket only Psycho-Pass wall-scroll that I bought. Danie got herself some Rose of Versailles stamps instead. Due to the language barrier, we couldn’t get too much out of the dojinshi, but it was absolutely awesome to see so many fellow geeks proudly united.
Tokyo Big Sight
In the afternoon, we went to the bay area to watch the hanabi, or fireworks. Now, fireworks are a different story in Japan than in Europe, that’s for sure. Hundreds of thousands of people stock up on food and drinks and go out wearing traditional jukata or kimono to watch hanabi. Fireworks happen all over Japan during summer (so do a lot of other festivals), and they are huge. Like in huger than Comiket huge. We got to experience another first: Being shoved into the subway by a subway-people-moving-person in white gloves. Fun times. The fireworks were very pretty, and we enjoyed them with some onigiri and soba in a huge crowd near the bay. When the show was over, it was interesting to watch people leaving completely organized and quiet. Hundreds of policemen and security guards were leading the peaceful retreat. Everybody took their garbage with them, of course. Everything in this country feels so organized, well planned, structured, and peaceful. It surely has it’s advantages, as shown in the low crime rate, people (ourselves included) not having to be afraid walking around the shadier parts of town (which still qualify as what we would call “okay” back in Europe), but the little rebel inside of us sometimes felt like bursting out into song, just to stir up some noise. But, really, we love Japan. It’s an amazing country filled with amazingly friendly and wonderful people.
Today, we went to Mitaka where the museum of Studio Ghibli is located. Our hosts were so kind to let us use their bikes, and it was just splendid to be able to bike again. And the museum was just … wonderful. We had to hold back our tears several times (and sometimes, we failed). Every little detail was designed and done with so much love and imagination, it was like taking a journey down the rabbit hole and feeling like our inner four year old again. Oh, how I wanted to play in the giant cat bus (only little kids were allowed). Pity. Of course, we didn’t leave without buying some merchandise. Thank you, Studio Ghibli, for all the emotions over the last years. You guys rock.
The robot from Laputa, Studio Ghibli Museum
Trapped little spirits wanting to be released, Studio Ghibli Museum
Now we’re off to eat some ramen and sing karaoke with our hosts. Ja mata!