Breakfast here at the Marriott Associa included Chinese congee and also making omelettes with your chosen ingredients! By the tables were large baskets which people seemed to use for bags. Among the cutlery on offer were devices I didn’t fully understand but I think were utensil rests.
Japan is a very ordered country and the people are used to that. At the underground station a guard got us properly into three person wide lines. Cramped and hot to begin with on the journey from Nagoya to Fujigaoka and I began feeling I needed a drink. I belatedly discovered the free bottles of water the Marriott Associa had provided were sealed past my ability to open without a sharp blade! So I got a small bottle of water from one of the vending machines around.
At Fujigaoka transferred to the Linimo Line to get to a station with a very long name for Ghibli Park. And one of the real highlights of this holiday. Ghibli Park is a large area with a large central area and an expanse of hilly forest behind. Most of the Ghibli film based areas are round the central area.
Ghibli Park is very popular with the Japanese and there are long queues for the restaurants, and to enter the Grand Warehouse, and in the shops, and to see the attractions. Like Disneyland without the boring rollercoasters.
I started with the Grand Warehouse which had so much to see, tableaux from the various films. A kind Japanese took my picture by the cat bus from ‘My Neighbour Totoro’. Not sure I would trust a Westerner to take a picture with my phone. The tableaux in the Grand Warehouse were as good as those in say the Harry Potter studio tour. I did try to find souvenirs to take home in the warehouse shop, you got given a wicker basket but the crush in there dampened by spending spirits. I was hoping for a calendar but saw none.
After seeing Satsuki and Mei’s home I had a ride in the cat bus to Mononoke Village (because one could) and saw the brilliant Howl’s Moving Castle, very well done. There was a lot for children here. I wasn’t always sure what I was queuing for!
Ghibli Park is a must if you like the films I feel it is worth visiting in its own right. I should have stayed longer than I did, but I wanted to see the SCMaglev place and also ensure I forwarded my luggage from Nagoya to Tokyo.
I needed a little something to keep me going to I betrayed my attempt to only eat Japanese food this holiday and had meatball spaghetti at a place towards the station.
Once again I faced the horror of the labyrinth of Nagoya station. Felt really like a rat running a maze. Back at the hotel I had to ask the hotel staff to amputate my Ghibli Park wristband, I couldn’t remove myself. Luggage forwarding worked but they didn’t seem to check the Park Hotel recognised me.
Chinese congee
Ghibli Park Grand Warehouse
Grand Warehouse
Me by the Cat Bus
Grand Warehouse
Grand Warehouse
Grand Warehouse
Grand Warehouse
Satsuki and Mei's house
Dondoko-do
A real cat bus
Howl's Moving Castle
Cafe near entrance
Spaghetti with meatballs