Ghibli Layout Exhibition

Ponyo ponyo ponyo...♪

Today's destination is Ghibli Layout Exhibition!
You can see the map trip below (sorry, only partly..., I was impatient to wait for the GPS to connect).
Not that it's that much of a walk trip anyways.

I love anime. One of my dream is to become a mangaka, or at least doujinshika. I want to try becoming an animator, too. Tough job, but doesn't it sound cool? But to be one in Japan is... really tough. First is the very high average skills people here have, second is the visa thing. But nothing's impossible, I'm sure. One day I'll become one! ^o^/ This Japanese culture is just so world wide already, from time to time I see foreign otaku interviewed on Japanese TV. Though, it's a bit ugh to be stereotyped as gaijin who come to Japan because of anime/manga. ^_^; Though I do can't deny it fully.

First up. The train manner monkey series was at the Osaka-kou Station (大阪港).

And this very cute dog was sleeping... Luckily I went the wrong way, was going through the smaller street, not the main street, a shortcut, I guess.

The ticket is ¥700 for student. ¥600 if I remember to take the voucher...

Outside is a big Totoro board, where you can lay down, pretending you're on top of Totoro's belly. Too bad no one's there to take a pic for me... =/ It was already evening by the time I went out. I was in there for almost 3 hours ^_^;;

There are two long boards for people to put their own stickers. I'm not sure what these creatures supposed to represent. I do remember seeing them somewhere... orz

Mine's somewhere here.

Anyways. I'm not a big fan of Ghibli, actually, sorry. I'd rather see Production IG's or Studio 4C's. But Ghibli is big. And this thing is not something to be missed (ends 12 October in Osaka). The layout exhibition is awesome. From those yellowish ones that are older than me, to the most recent Ponyo's colored layout design.

It just makes me want to watch more Ghibli's anime, and make my own (ahahaha). Bought the book, 400 pages thick for ¥2900 (1 for a friend) and some postcards.

Layout is something drawn after E-konte (storyboard), to picture better how the scenes should look and animated, since it's hard to change once you go into the actual drawing process. Except for Ponyo's exhibition, all of them are only drawn by pencil and colored pencils. Some are just so rough. Some are very detailed. And they have these "technical words" written on them, like "follow" or "pan up". There are other words which are not pure english, but I can't remember them, ahaha. Oh wait, "kumi" which is when the "cell" touches the background. I'm not sure what's the scratch lines (have to see them close enough) doing on the paper, maybe it's explained on the audio tour (¥500), which I didn't get.

It looks like these (from the thick book). The display for Spirited Away one is the best. The castle-ish building is printed big on the wall. And the layout drawings fill up the wall from below till the ceiling. And they're so pretty and detailed... =A=

Afterwards, I went to get something to eat. Suntory Museum where the exhibition's held is just beside the aquarium. These lamps are just so sparkly cute. I don't like aquariums, though... Uncooked real fish scares me, though salmon sashimi is kinda yumm.

This is at a nearby mall. I think there's a similar place in Dotonburi? I've never been there.

Restaurants and shops. I ended up eating a Tendon. Haven't had tempura for a long time.

Next to the mall is this giant ferris wheel. One of the world's biggest. ¥700 for one adult (oh wait, I just see it's having a special price for ¥560). This place really reminds me of Odaiba, on a much smaller scale, though...

And that's the end of today. Two gallery trips in a week. =D
Next coming up is Inoue Takehiko's exhibition, I think... sometime next year?
Most of special events is ending this early October. Hm, well. Summer ended and new semester is beginning soon...

ghibli layout exhibition
Map created by EveryTrail

Softbank iPhone (in short)

Found the 16gb iPhone 3GS in stock at the 3rd Softbank store. Took it rightaway. Managed to get away with 24x plan. So now I'm done with Japanese phone. I've used mobile Suica in Tokyo, so I'm pretty satisfied. Bye bye 1seg, bye bye Felica phone. Will write in details at a later date. Is pretty busy till tomorrow afternoon.

edit: Mobile Suica is really nice actually, you can charge it easily from a nearby Newdays/Family Mart, which is always near JR stations. I tried charging it through the mobile banking but it never worked, strangely. I wish they have such system here too. But well, I have iPhone now.

Wrongly Used Ticket

I currently uses 3 different kinds of train tickets that I use regularly. So one day when I'm in a rush, I put in the wrong ticket in... orz And so I got this from the station master in replacement for one time ride from the multiple ride card. So I'm saved! Thank you!

Kaisuu Ticket

Kaisuu (回数) means several times. Bought the ticket at the price of 10 tickets but usable for 11 times. For example, normal ticket costs 240 yen. With this, 1 way becomes 218 yen. For Research student who can't get student's monthly pass, this is the only saver. It is usable to and from any station as long as it's the same distance with the price bought (240 yen).

But what if you happen to want to go a bit further on one day (not sure about shorter)? If you buy the normal ticket, you won't get discount. So, put in the ticket into the machine. And it will be automatically exchanged to the small normal ticket, saying 240 yen. No need for the big ticket. With this then, when you go out, you adjust it at the adjustment fare machine. And well, the discount is not as much as if you use another Kaisuu Ticket, but, it's just a rare journey, not a problem.

Train Ticket Part 1

There are loooots of different train tickets in Japan, since there are lots of different train companies here. First time I come here, I knew nothing but the usual small one trip ticket that you buy whenever you want to ride the train. Then there are the:


- Special 1 day ticket (unlimited one day trip, discounted)
- JR-pass (only applies for tourists though, discounted)
- prepaid ticket (surutto Kansai, can be used almost anywhere in Kansai, no discount though)
- 回数券カード (buy 10 get 11 trips, discounted)
- 定期券 (Periodical unlimited ticket, eg. unlimited monthly, for a certain path, discounted)
- Pitapa (Like Suica? may be discounted?)

And the way to use it is interesting. Well, normally you slide the card through. And when you don't have enough credit to get out of the station, you can top it up at the machine near the station. But there's also time when you can put 2 cards in. One time I use it from the airport. I can only buy it halfway till my destination. But luckily I have this 回数券カード so I slide the 2 cards in together at my destination! No need to go out and buy another ticket~


I wish I'm in Tokyo so I can just use my phone. But this is Osaka. A bit different, only JR works with phone. I'm still not sure which one's the best for me. As I have to take 2 different trains everyday. Currently using the 回数券カード. Is thinking of using Pitapa, but Pitapa only discounts the subway, which won't do much good for me =( Nothing to lose, though. I can just use it only for subways. There's the credit card version and the normal version. And to process it takes few weeks... =_=;