To be clear: This is not to be confused with the Ghibli Theme Park. This is a museum outside of Tokyo full of whimsy and delight, situated in a cozy spot in Inokashira park.
General Museum Goodies
The exterior is wonderful: It’s so colorful, full of interesting shapes and window, and very inviting for the senses. It really feels like it melds effortlessly into the forest park around it. The museum itself is a bit small – so expect to have to shuffle around people a bit. They do limit the number of visitors, so it’ll never be the case where you can’t move, but be prepared to get a bit cozy with other visitors. There are open spaces where you can sit and rest, like the hallways on the third floor as well as the outside seating area next to the cafe. It costs 1000 yen for adults, which is an absolute steal for what you get!
Original Animations
The museum also has a small theater where you can watch some of the Ghibli short films. They’re about 5-10 minutes each, meant to be played as a bit of a teaser before a movie starts, much like the Pixar shorts. These are made by the staff of the animation studio and they also make all of the sound effects.
The sound effects are pretty amazing: They’re people making noises only with their mouths and voices – no practical sound effects at all! This gives the videos a bit of a humorous, DIY charm. The animation also tends to be a bit stylized, adding to the whimsy. The video on deck when we went was called House Hunting. It’s a short about a young girl going on a trip out of the busy city and up to a mountain to find herself a new home. It was super nice to watch her go about nature and really showed the magic that surrounded her in a creative, fluid way. I liked it quite a bit! Our friends, when they went, got a video about caterpillars (Boro the Caterpillar). And they were… well, let’s say it didn’t shy away from the biological 💩.
Exploration
The way this place is setup is a lot like a funhouse – minus the hall of mirrors. There are windy stairways, dead ends that reward you with unique views, narrow hallways filled with original stills and cells from Ghibli films, and an entire rooftop garden where you can find the guardian from Castle in the Sky! I really enjoyed that bit the most. There’s even a room with a big soft Catbus, where little kids can play around and burn off some energy. The whole space feels like it is catered for children, which makes sense, since these films are targeted at children. There is plenty to see and enjoy for adults as well, but I feel like the most magic is had by young kids having their minds blown with all the cool places they can go in the museum.
Food and Gifts
The museum has a gift shop, Mama Auito!, based on a character from the film Porco Rosso. The gift shop itself is designed to fit in with the “magic house in the forest” aesthetic of the rest of the museum, and hosts plenty of memorabilia for you to purchase. They have jewelry and themed watched, pins, clothes, cups, banners, and all manner of plush toys for you to get. Many of the items are exclusive to the museum, such as anything with the museum’s coat of arms or characters from the short films. I got a nice pin of the coat of arms! I had wanted a plush of one of these cool-looking worm guys, but they only had a comically large version, much too big and expensive for my needs at the time.
For dining, they have a takeout window and a small cafe, the Straw Hat Cafe, named after the straw hat that little Mei’s hat from My Neighbor Totoro. They have some pretty standard fair: Breads, sausage, and sandwiches, much like what you’d find at most chain coffee shops in the country. They also sell the coffee beans they use for the coffee there, so you know what I bought! There’s limited seating inside but a lot of outside seating on these nice wooden terraces, which really feel like a tree house experience! They also have big wash areas, like those you might find outside a school or temple, so you can wash your hands or clean up generally.
As an adult, this place was still worth a look: It’s tranquil, and there’s a lot you can do in the surrounding Inokashira park if you get burned out on Ghibli. I think if I were a kid, I would have lost my mind visiting this place: It captures so much of the imagination with how it’s built and it really taps into that child-like imagination for what they would think would be in a magical forest house. Every display, however, is only in Japanese, so bring a translation app or brush up on your Japanese to get the most out of some of the exhibits. You can check their website here (you do need a reservation/pre-purchased ticket to go. Plan ahead!).
Two Second Street 