Ponyo ponyo, ponyo sakana no ko~

Good day today. I got up around eleven, stopped briefly at school to eat breakfast and use the internet, and then collected my bike and headed over to the station, where I met Kyuu, and we headed over to the theatre at Harvest Walk, to go see Ponyo! It finally came out today. We stopped at the 'Crepe Kingdom' shop first, to pick up some bubble tea, and then headed over to the theatre itself.

The theatre... was a madhouse. I had thought it would be fairly quiet for a matinee (we were seeing the 1:30 showing), since there's never been anyone there when I've gone before. However, I forgot that Japan is crazy with their movies (the "late show" here is one that starts at 8:30) and... I also was not aware that the new Pokemon movie was beginning today, in addition to Ponyo on the Cliff (the new Ghibli movie), and an Anpan-man movie, which started last weekend.

So there were little kids everywhere, and I had to stand in line for quite awhile just to get my popcorn. But when we got into the theatre itself, it wasn't too busy. We were there a bit early, but I think even by the time the movie started the place was only maybe two-thirds full.

The movie itself was great. Really beautiful animation. Of course Ghibli always does good stuff, but this really was a treat to watch. The information I read beforehand said that they were going back to a watercolor-esque style similar to 'My Neighbor Totoro,' and I think the movie was much closer to Totoro than, say, Spirited Away or Howl's Moving Castle in other ways as well. The protagonists were a lot younger, at five years old, and the story itself was a lot simpler, with more of the focus on random adventure and exploration and magic that we get in Totoro.

( Summary; cut for spoilers, although there aren't really many. )

The movie wasn't deep or dramatic, but it was fluffy and absolutely adorable. Everything was made of cute. Even the theme song is super-bouncy and cute (helped along by the fact that it's mostly sung by a nine-year-old girl). The soundtrack was also really light and fun. I'll definitely have to pick up a copy. (They had them at the theatre, but I didn't much feel like paying 3000 for a disc I probably won't be able to copy to Media Player). All in all, a really good, fun movie. I may go see it again if I have time, if only because I know it probably won't be out in the States for awhile.

Afterwards, Kyuu had to catch the bus back to the station so she could get to her job on time, and I went and did a bit of browsing in the shops. I picked up some tank tops (including the white one I need to complete my uniform for the shingegumi) and other clothes, and went over to the Wal-Mart-esque store to look for a takoyaki maker, but couldn't find any, alas.

I went back to the station, picked up supplies for okonomiyaki, and was all happy and ready to go home, make some dinner and watch the new episodes of Avatar...

...aaand I discovered I couldn't find my bike keys. Wonderful. I had my bag (with my laptop still, so it was heavy as hell), the groceries, and then the bag of clothes I'd bought, and there was far too much just to walk home-- and of course then I'd be stuck without a bike anyway, since both my keys were on the keyring, which was now missing. I flailed around for a bit, checking my bag twice, all my other bags, all my pockets, and even trying to jimmy the lock with a paperclip, until finally an old Japanese guy came over and tried to help. He lead me over to where the police guy was standing (while I hauled my bike by hand; no easy feat.)

I explained things to the policeman, who suggested that I call my friends to help carry the bike, and then bring the bike to a bike shop several blocks away, where they would be able to unlock it. (And give me a new key? I didn't think so.) However, I'm also pretty sure he was telling me that I'd need to provide my registration to the people at the shop, so that I could prove it was my bike. Problem is; I don't have registration; I think the bikes Keleih and I got are spares from the dorms; either the ooya-san or Hakuoh probably has the paperwork; I know nothing about that.

All in all, it sounded like a horrific hassle anyway, so I sort of told the guy I understood and headed off. I went back and checked the grocery store just to be sure, and then got back on the bus to Harvest Walk. Might as well try to find the key first, before dealing with bike shops and who knew what other complicated things...

I had a feeling the key must've fallen out of my pocket in the theatre, and so I went there first. The ticket-taker said that nobody had brought in a key, but there was still time before the next showing, so I could go in and look. I went up to my seat and there the key was, on the floor. Argh.

As it turned out, though, it wasn't a terrible thing that I had to go back, because by the time I got back to the station, there was a festival starting up! It was a little mini-festival; bunch of people carrying a tiny shrine on their shoulders, with a car that had taiko drums following them. I fetched my bike and then took a bunch of pictures with my cell phone, since the shrine was going the same way I was. I caught sight of a poster on the corner, too, and I think this was actually the first part of the festival that we're going to be participating in tomorrow. It looks really fun, I gotta say.

So I went home, rather later than I wanted, and got my dinner together and watched my Avatar... and things were good.