Blog Archives

Fans of Studio Ghibli and Hayao Miyazaki’s works who visit Tokyo often mistakenly think that the Ghibli Museum is the only Ghibli-related attraction in the area (well, at least until the proposed Studio Ghibli theme park opens in 2022).

They’re wrong. Tucked away near Setagaya-Daita station is Shiro-hige’s Cream Puff Factory – a whimsical bakery/coffee shop that makes Totoro cream puffs. The shop itself sports a variety of Ghibli-themed decor and sells both Totoro-themes cookies and cream puffs. The cream puffs come in a variety of flavors, from custard to strawberry to matcha, although the flavors available vary depending on the month and more popular flavors often sell out by midday, especially on weekends.

Hakaba no Garo Gallery is at it again! This year alone they have already held mini exhibits/pop-up stores for J9 and Cobra and Go Nagai’s Devilman was next on their list of classic anime/manga properties to cover. Actually, the mini exhibit this time was technically for the more recent Devilman Crybaby – but apart from a wall of screenshots and character design sheets, most of the items on display and on sale focused more on the classic, Go Nagai version of the titular character.

To commemorate the release of “Haruhiko Mikimoto’s Character Works” – a 248 page volume covering much of his character design and illustration work on shows such as Gunbuster, Kabaneri of the Iron Fortress, Gundam, Megazone and, of course, Macross – a brief exhibit of some of the art and layouts from the book was held in an underground walkway in Yokohama.