Looey's Last Postcard from Japan

"Are you still here?"

After my last post, I thought I'd exhausted all my Moonbase worthy experiences. But with two last days in Tokyo, I was proved wrong.

I met up with an American friend who works in the Japanese film industry. He took me to the the Hotel Gracery, atop the Toho Cinema complex in Shinjuku.

You can understand why it's informally called The Godzilla Hotel!

Up close, the life size head is pretty impressive.

And in the foyer is an actual filming suit on display with a puppet Mothra!

The my friend took me on a train trip to see Toho Studios. Still standing in a leafy suburb bisected by the Senkawa River, which is filled with grey carp where Akira Kurosawa used to fish.

The studio has been modernised but it still pays tribute to the heritage of it's two most famous productions.

Another train ride brought us to a leafy suburb with a delightfully overgrown group of small business buildings.

The small understated sign reveals the identity of this most famous of all Japanese animation studios.

Having worked here, my friend knew some of it's secrets. Nearby was an even more understated private studio, with glass windows facing the street where we might just see "Japan's Disney" still at work...

We strolled down the leafy suburban street, as inconspicuous as a pair of towering Gaijin could be. Outside, an aged gentleman wearing a flat blue bucket hat, was just stepping off the porch. Our eyes briefly locked, but we continued walking past, feigning nonchalance.

I know what you're saying Moonbasers, "Pictures, or it didn't happen"

- but to have whipped out my camera and fired off a pic straight in his face, would have been the height of disrespect...

This is a trip I will never forget!

Looey

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And ....