Minmaxing Life

I only visited two museums during my whole stay in Japan: the Ota Memorial Museum of Art and the Ghibli Museo d’Arte. The first one is a tiny place where you take off your shoes before going in and has a rotating collection of ukiyo-e. By an immense stroke of luck, while I was in Tokyo it was displaying masterpieces from Hiroshige and my personal favorite, Hokusai. Best of all, I got to see with my own eyes the original great wave - from the 36 views of Mount Fuji set - that is reproduced just about everywhere. Bliss!

As for the Ghibli Museum, it quite simply blew my mind. Admittedly, I am a huge Miyazaki fan so I may be biased. But honestly, I don’t think I am. The museum is a work of art in itself. The level of attention to details, the amount of thinking that was done for this place is astounding - even for a Studio Ghibli project. I cannot begin to describe the joy I felt seeing the stained glass windows full of characters from their movies, walking through rooms each more exciting than the preceding, watching strange devices or the 3D zoetropes - custom built with the help of Toshio Iwai (of Electoplankton fame). In many ways, the Ghibli Museo d’Arte is an anti-museum. It’s full of life, you can touch almost everything, it does not preach.

Here’s what Miyazaki himself wrote down when he was thinking about creating it :

“This is the Kind of Museum I want to Make
(by Hayao Miyazaki)

A museum that is interesting and which relaxes the soul. A museum where much can be discovered. A museum based on a clear and consistent philosophy. A museum where those seeking enjoyment can enjoy, those seeking to ponder can ponder, and those seeking to feel can feel. A museum that makes you feel more enriched when you leave than when you entered!

To make such a museum, the building must be… Put together as if it were a film. Not arrogant, magnificent, flamboyant, or suffocating. Quality space is where people can feel at home, especially when it’s not crowded. A building that has a warm feel and touch. A building where the breeze and sunlight can freely flow through.

The museum must be run in such a way so that… Small children are treated as if they were grown-ups. The handicapped are accommodated as much as possible. The staff can be confident and proud of their work. Visitors are not controlled with predetermined courses and fixed directions. It is suffused with ideas and new challenges so that the exhibits do not get dusty or old, and that investments are made to realize that goal.

The displays will be… Not only for the benefit of people who are already fans of Studio Ghibli. Not a procession of artwork from past Ghibli films as if it were “a museum of the past”. A place where visitors can enjoy by just looking, can understand the artists’ spirits, and can gain new insights into animation.

Original works and pictures will be made to be exhibited at the museum. A projection room and an exhibit room will be made, showing movement and life (Original short films will be produced to be released in the museum!). Ghibli’s past films will be probed for understanding at a deeper level.

The café will be… An important place for relaxation and enjoyment. A place that doesn’t underestimate the difficulties of running a museum café. A good café with a style all its own where running a café is taken seriously and done right.

The museum shop will be… Well-prepared and well-presented for the sake of the visitors and running the museum. Not a bargain shop that attaches importance only to the amount of sales. A shop that continues to strive to be a better shop. Where original items made only for the museum are found.

The museum’s relation to the park is… Not just about caring for the plants and surrounding greenery but also planning for how things can improve ten years into the future. Seeking a way of being and running the museum so that the surrounding park will become even lusher and better, which will in turn make the museum better as well!

This is what I expect the museum to be, and therefore I will find a way to do it.

This is the kind of museum I don’t want to make!
A pretentious museum. An arrogant museum. A museum that treats its contents as if they were more important than people. A museum that displays uninteresting works as if they were significant.”

If the measure of a creator is how far he falls from his inital vision, then the Ghibli museum is yet another proof of Miyazaki’s mastery because it is exactly as he intended. To me the visit felt like a lesson not just in animation, art, business and marketing - it felt like a lesson in life.

It is a truly magical place and you shouldn’t miss it under any pretext if you ever make it to Tokyo.
My only regret was feeling too old and ashamed to jump with the small children on the huge furry neko-bus.

Heading home from another amazing dinner at a funky Roppongi restaurant where I had tsukune, tofu and Kobe beef yakitori - the waiters and cooks kept shouting orders back and forth in a very entertaining way - I walked down to Tokyo Tower before catching a cab heading for my hotel back in Shinjuku. Took a few shots along the way. Clic on the pic for more.

Just made it back from Kyoto where I had a wonderful time, to say the least.

Yesterday evening, I had dinner at the Wakuden, an ancient traditional restaurant, where I was treated to an unbelievable kaiseki while listening to shamisen and the sweet voice of a Maiko. Among the interesting dishes that were served, alongside the oshizushi (pressed sushi) and the charcoal grilled unagi (eel), there also was turtle jelly and whale. Yes, whale. For my defense it never crossed my mind that it could happen before it was too late. Otherwise, I would have avoided the place as eating endangered species wasn’t ranking high on my “fun things to do in Kyoto” list. But halfway down the course, with the plate in front of me, it was way too late to pull out my WWF card and make a stand for biodiversity.

So I ate it.

For the record, it wasn’t the best dish I had that night - by far - but at least you can now officially call me “Olivier-The-Whale-Eater”!

Between TGS last week and my deambulations in “electric town” Akihabara, I’ve had ample opportunity to check out local DS titles that will probably never leave the island. Among other things, I saw: a yoga instructor, a beetle card fighting game, a skin beauty advisor, a bunch of translators, a face trainer, a mouse driven “magnetic” thing and, last but not least, EA’s “Bartender vol.3″!

To say that I was disappointed with the event would be a vast understatement. More and more I feel like video games trade shows are a complete waste of time and energy. After seeing the meretricious lines of gaudy stands displaying almost nothing but stale games - although fabulously well executed in some cases - I’m convinced TGS deserves to disappear just as much as E3.

Paraphrasing Shakespeare, TGS would have been utterly full of sound and fury, signifying nothing if it hadn’t been for four games: Echochrome, Little Big Planet, Eye of Judgment and Patapon. Four Sony exclusives, interestingly…

These were the only titles that caught my eye and attention. Sadly, I’d heard of three out of four long before setting foot at the show: the PC prototype of Echochrome has been downloadable for a while, Media Molecule’s game was announced at GDC 07 and Eye of Judgment at last year’s TGS. Thus, only Patapon, a sort of Lemmings crossed with Donkey Konga with amusing 2D graphics, was really new to me. It definitely looked interesting but not enough to wait for hours in a line to try it. I’ve heard it’s done by the LocoRoco team so maybe that explains why Cocoreccho on PS3 is such a let down: perhaps they were too busy working on Patapon.

Also worth noting in the “not-completely-dull” department: Time Hollow, an RPG made specifically for the DS by Konami. Not exactly my cup of tea but at least it looks like they tried to be creative by using time as both a game mechanic and story element. It was the biggest booth dedicated to a single DS game and had a lavish 6 pages color brochure so Konami must really believe in it. I’ll probably give it a shot if it’s ever released outside Japan.

Finally, in the “remixed-oldies-and-nostalgia” department, I have to admit it’s good to see Ikaruga on the DS and Nights finding his way on the Wii.

A very perplexing message seen at Taito Station, an arcade in Akihabara.
Believe it or not, there is a sensible explanation for that sign!

In Tokyo, getting ready to attend the TGS.
I’m mainly here to find a japanese publisher for our upcoming Nintendo DS game. I’m also trying to get a better understanding of the japanese people since my team and I are thinking of making a game that could only work here (at least initially).
We’re probably out of our minds but still…

Anyways, it’s a fair enough reason to stay an extra week after TGS but mostly, it would be crazy going so far only to attend a trade show. Right?