One Last Hurrah

Well, this is just about it for the 'Rindi in Japan' part of my life. It was pretty darn fantastic. I'm so glad I had the chance to do this. ^_^

I finally went to the Ghibli museum yesterday. It was really quite whimsical and fun to wander through. Too bad I wasn't allowed to take pictures of the inside... The best part was that I got to see a 15-minute short that's exclusive to the museum. I was really lucky and they were playing 'Mei to Koneko-bus' (Mei and the Baby Catbus) - the short that I really really wanted to see. Hey, anything to expand the world of My Neighbor Totoro. ^^ Ahhhh! It was so cute! It opened with the Sanpo theme song and had the little animals jumping out and stuff... And the movie was totally understandable because there wasn't much talking at all. I even understood almost all of the spoken parts, which consisted of stuff like, "You're small," and "Is that your father?"

Anyway, the gist of the movie is thus: Mei is playing by herself outside on a windy day. She unwraps a caramel candy and is about to eat it when a small whirlwind attacks her. It snatches up the wrapper and starts chasing her. Mei flees into the house but the whirlwind follows. She shuts the door behind it so it can't get out, and when it gets close enough, she grabs it. And hey, guess what! It's a baby catbus. It panics and tries to flee out of the window, which is shut. Mei calms it down by giving it a caramel. Then the adult catbus shows up and grins at them. The kitten tries to flee again, so Mei opens the window and frees it. It flies off into the sky after its parent. Later, during the night, Mei wakes up to find the baby catbus at the window. It opens up its side, inviting her in. Mei fits perfectly! XD They fly off into the night, and join many other catbuses running through the sky. They are all chock-full of totoros, grinning madly of course. Some are long, like bullet trains! X3 They all go to a forest and drop off their passengers there. Mei is left behind, and she gets scared because all of the totoros are walking past her to some destination, and they're completely ignoring her. Fortunately, THE totoro shows up (complete with umbrella), and Mei jumps onto his chest in relief. They follow the others, and it turns out that all of the Totoros are filing into this HUGE, ancient catbus (apparently the kitten's grandmother). The sign announced where their destination was, but I couldn't read the kanji. ;~; The totoros all seemed very solemn though. Anyway, Mei befriends the huge catbus by feeding it a caramel, and all of the totoros grin and laugh. Mei gets back into the baby catbus and they take off into the night, flying alongside the huge catbus, who looks something like a cruise ship. For some reason, the totoro with the umbrella gets left behind, and he waves goodbye to them. EL FIN.

Hahaha. I was bawling through the whole thing. XD Nostalgia hits me hard like that. I hope no one around me noticed - if they did, I'm sure they were pretty confused. Anyway, it was awesome. I was so glad that I got to see it.

Mrrm, besides that, I went shopping in the huge shopping complex in Nakano, simply because I'd always seen it from the train window, and I wondered what it was like. There was a huge Mandarake there, which was pretty cool, but I didn't feel like buying more manga. I did find a cute shirt in a clothing store (it was on sale!), so I bought that. It's sleeveless, black, and button-up. There are pleats down the front, a collar, lightly frayed edges, two pockets on the front chest, and lots of chunky metal buttons. So excellent. *_* I think it'll go well with my black skirt, fishnet shirt, and favorite chunky shoes... Now, to find a reason to wear an emsemble like that... Hm. o___o; Actually, I wish I had some appropriately frilly-sleeved white shirt to wear under it. I've got the perfect thing in mind, but I don't think I'd be able to find it by randomly looking around. Ah well. Love.

Today I made one last trip out to Odaiba to check out the Shounen Jump store. Didn't buy anything, but it was a lot of fun to look through. Also wandered through that mall complex - it's freaking huge! After that, I rode over to Akihabara to pick up KOTOKO's first CD. I'm listening to it now, and it is truly wonderful. I love it! I think I might like it even more than her second CD, which I bought a while ago, but I haven't finished listening to it yet, so perhaps I shouldn't pass judgement yet. ^^; Anyway, it's good.

I'm flying home this Thursday. I need to notify various people that I'm leaving. Gotta find someone to pay my bills. Gotta reserve a seat on the Narita Express, because I want as little hassle with my luggage as possible. It'll be a bit pricey, but it's better than having to brave public transport. Hahaha. I also have to pack all my stuff. Boy, that's going to be fun. *sarcasm sarcasm*

- Rindi

Current song: KOTOKO - Genei
Current mood: Happy happy happy