March 27 (Day 10)

Xander Hu-Van Reeth, Dorian Bristol, David Werstler, and Adam Rehan

Upon arriving at the park after an hour and a half of driving, we beelined to a cafe where we consumed coffee and or donuts (I tried this delicious honey donut that I wish I had a picture of.) After everyone had been given their tickets and eaten it was time to enter the park! A little bit of background first: the name Ghibli Park can be a little misleading to us Americans -  it sure was to me. Ghibli Park does not feature any thrill rides or anything similar. Instead, it’s a place where people can enjoy the scenery and characters from their favorite movies. I entered the park a little dismayed, but that would soon dissipate upon touring the place.

We started with an exhibition that showcased scenes from a multitude of movies, but my favorite display was the showcasing of original sketches done during the design process of the movies. I wish I had a picture but unfortunately, photography was not allowed in that area. We ended up touring a bunch of similar areas where photography WAS allowed and here are two photos as an example of what we were seeing.

We then proceeded to do all sorts of activities, including but not limited to racing with weird bamboo shoes (I don’t know how else to describe them), gorging ourselves at the numerous food trucks, and relaxing in the perfect weather. We ended our tour of the park by checking out the ice skating rink where Michael was learning how to ice skate, to limited success. 

We then left the park, headed to the train station, and killed time for an hour and a half. Mr. Bolognese beat another student at shadow boxing (imagine a flashier form of rock paper scissors) making his record 3-0, but was ultimately dethroned by Max the freshman (we all immediately lost respect for him). 

We then boarded the bullet train (our second one of the trip) and ate our bento boxes in peace.