Ghibli Museum





Ghibli Museum (三鷹の森ジブリ美術館) is a commercial museum featuring the Japanese anime work of Studio Ghibli. Located in Mitaka, a western suburb of Tokyo, Japan, it opened in 2001.

The museum is a "fine arts" museum, but does not take the concept of a usual fine arts museum. With many features that are child-oriented and a sprawling and ocasionally mazelike interior, the museum is a playfully created place. Centered around the motto "Let's lose our way together," the museum has no set path or order of viewing. In addition to Ghibli-oriented exhibitions, the museum hosts an area where it brings in other animation work. The 2006-2007 exhibition is the Aardman Studio, primarily their work on Wallace and Gromit. The 2005-2006 exhibition dealt with Heidi, Girl of the Alps. On 2004-2005, the museum featured an exhibition about Pixar Animation Studios. It seems to be primarily a Japanese tourist location, as even though the museum brochure has a variety of languages on it, the signs within the museum are in Japanese only. The museum requires to buy tickets in advance, so it is not possible to buy tickets at the museum. Foreign tourists are required to buy their tickets in advance through Japanese travel agencies. Tickets are valid for a specific date and randomly feature three consecutive celluloid photograms of various Ghibli's films.

The building features two floors connected through staircases as well as a metallic spiral staircase. There is a sculpture garden on the rooftop.

From January 3, 2006 until March 13, 2006 the museum showed three new Ghibli short-films in the Saturn Theatre.

Although it may have cycled others before, it is still showing these three films as of July 2006.


 * Yadosagashi (Looking for a Home)
 * Hoshi wo Katta Hi (The Day I Cropped/Harvested a Star)
 * Mizugumo Monmon (Water Spider Monmon)

Each guest to the museum is only permitted to see one of these films during a single visit.

The museum includes two shops -an animation bookstore and a souvenir giftshop- as well as a restaurant.

There is a strict no-photography indoors policy. However, photos are allowed in the garden.

A free bus service connects the museum with Mitaka's train station.