Preface
A Salute to the Masters at Ghibli
Since its inception in the mid-'80s, Studio Ghibli has produced a steady stream of great theatrical animated films. In July, 2001, Ghibli released what many, including myself, consider to be the finest animated motion picture ever made: "Sen to Chihiro no Kamikakushi," the film a few lucky Americans actually got to see in theaters as "Spirited Away."
"Spirited Away" is a film that improves with each viewing. My tale makes no such claims, but it attempts to remain compatible with the facts as researchers and careful observers have pieced together from interviews with Miyazaki and from clues right in the film or on the storyboards. Chihiro did, for example, move from western Tokyo. The license plate on the car was issued by the Tama Land Office in Tachikawa, a city near the far west edge of the metropolitan area. If the road signboard at the very beginning of the film is to believed even a little, they moved to a hilly area far to the west--most likely in Gifu prefecture almost directly east of Gifu city.
It is a continuation, as I see it, starting from the last scene in the film. Immediately, some readers may be put off by the premise that Chihiro has already forgotten (at a conscious level) her entire experience. This is due largely to the American "interpretation" through Pixar, which included a conversation in the car that never took place in the original version as the family drove off at the end.
Anyway, I'll leave you to the tale. As usual, all of the major players in this story are the intellectual property of Ghibli. As all family and given names used in this story are fairly common in Japan, it is possible that I might have accidentally or coincidentally hit upon the name of a living individual.
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Chapter 1
The Ride Back
Chihiro stared blankly at the passing treetops and the deep blue sky from her seat in the back of the Audi Quattro. Her stoic face belied her inner thoughts as she tried to piece together the events of the last fifteen minutes or so. Why couldn't she remember getting separated from her parents? Why did she have so many vague disconnected images running through her head, and why were those images fading rapidly? She felt as if she just awoke from a dream and the memory of it was disintegrating in the light of day. All that remained in her thoughts were impressions of feeling lost, a vast expanse of water and isolation, and losing a very good friend. Thinking of her friend, she looked down at the then dried up and wilted bouquet. "How could it have dried up like that so quickly?" she thought, as the road beneath them turned from dirt to pavement.
Her parents were in the front seat discussing the move. Lost in her own thoughts, the dialog reached Chihiro as random words and background noise. Suddenly, the car came to a stop. Chihiro shifted her attention to her parents. Her mother's voice asked, "Are you sure it was right?"
"Yes," her father exclaimed with authority.
"Let's check the radio to be sure," her mother replied. The sound of a radio being tuned from station to station to station broke the muffled silence of the otherwise placid cabin. Her father looked back around the headrest and called out, "Chihiro!"
"What?" she replied in an annoyed tone.
"What time do you think it is?"
"Four or five. Why?"
"Somehow my watch calendar shows it is two o'clock Tuesday afternoon."
"But it's Saturday--and it was at least 3:30 when we stopped to see that old ruin. Something must've happened to your watch, daddy."
"That's what I thought, but the dash clock agrees with my watch."
The radio went back into silence as her mother said, "I didn't hear anything that would tell us the time or day, but I clearly remember it being two-thirty when we got off at the Toki Interchange." The car started back into motion and Chihiro resumed her well-practiced listless pose in the back seat.
A few seconds later, father found the turn he had missed earlier. They proceeded up the hill on the sharply angled road toward their new home. Just before they reached their new blue house, father eyed a Lawson Station convenience store on the left and pulled the car into the tiny parking area in front.
"I'm going to get some coffee and a newspaper. I'll be right back," her father exclaimed. Mother added, "I need to use the restroom and I'm not sure the water is on yet at the house... ...Chihiro?"
"Go ahead. I'll just wait. I can walk here later if I need to."
As she sat there alone, she felt oddly unsettled. She wanted to do something or go somewhere, but there was nothing concrete. A few hours ago, she thought, she knew exactly what she wanted--or didn't want as the case was. She hated the idea of moving away from her friends and she resented her father's reassignment to manage the Tochinoki Green Hills Country Club in Gifu Prefecture. His previous assignment at the Chofu Green Hills Country Club western Tokyo was a lot better place, she thought. The car door opened in front, breaking Chihiro's thoughts.
Her parents looked visibly upset, but didn't exchange any words. The car started up and backed out pointing toward the direction from which they came. "Aren't we going the wrong way?" Chihiro asked. "We have to go to the clinic back in Mitake and get checked out," replied her father. "We must have eaten something and passed out. Today is Tuesday!"
The telephone rang at the Gifu Prefecture Public Health Affairs office. Doctor Iimura, a specialist in dietary supplements, was paged and he picked up the line.
"Hello. This is Iimura..."
"Dr. Iimura, this is Hiroyuki Ohta at the Ohta clinic in Mitake."
"Mitake--I think I've been through there on the way to play golf."
"Correct. In fact, this call is about the new manager at the Tochinoki course."
"Eh?"
"I just released a family of three after they came here complaining that they lost track of three days. They suspect it might have been something they ate."
"Did you find anything?"
"There was nothing they ate in the last several days that could explain a lapse of consciousness, but..."
"But?"
"I'm sending you some samples for analysis. There's something very strange, here."
"How so?"
"The family consists of a 38-year old father, a 35 year old mother, and a 10 year old daughter. Though they have no remembrance, all three ate, uh, very well."
"Why did you put it that way, Dr Ohta?"
"If I didn't know any better, I'd say they ate like forest animals. The really odd thing was that the young daughter had a different diet--more protein."
"People do that sometimes when they are hungry in the wild. Why do you think that's so unusual?"
"The parents ate pretty much the normal forest fare of berries and nontoxic leafy foods, but the daughter had a diet consisting of foods the human stomach can't digest without ill effect. I'd like to see your analysis."
A Salute to the Masters at Ghibli
Since its inception in the mid-'80s, Studio Ghibli has produced a steady stream of great theatrical animated films. In July, 2001, Ghibli released what many, including myself, consider to be the finest animated motion picture ever made: "Sen to Chihiro no Kamikakushi," the film a few lucky Americans actually got to see in theaters as "Spirited Away."
"Spirited Away" is a film that improves with each viewing. My tale makes no such claims, but it attempts to remain compatible with the facts as researchers and careful observers have pieced together from interviews with Miyazaki and from clues right in the film or on the storyboards. Chihiro did, for example, move from western Tokyo. The license plate on the car was issued by the Tama Land Office in Tachikawa, a city near the far west edge of the metropolitan area. If the road signboard at the very beginning of the film is to believed even a little, they moved to a hilly area far to the west--most likely in Gifu prefecture almost directly east of Gifu city.
It is a continuation, as I see it, starting from the last scene in the film. Immediately, some readers may be put off by the premise that Chihiro has already forgotten (at a conscious level) her entire experience. This is due largely to the American "interpretation" through Pixar, which included a conversation in the car that never took place in the original version as the family drove off at the end.
Anyway, I'll leave you to the tale. As usual, all of the major players in this story are the intellectual property of Ghibli. As all family and given names used in this story are fairly common in Japan, it is possible that I might have accidentally or coincidentally hit upon the name of a living individual.
-----------------------------------
Chapter 1
The Ride Back
Chihiro stared blankly at the passing treetops and the deep blue sky from her seat in the back of the Audi Quattro. Her stoic face belied her inner thoughts as she tried to piece together the events of the last fifteen minutes or so. Why couldn't she remember getting separated from her parents? Why did she have so many vague disconnected images running through her head, and why were those images fading rapidly? She felt as if she just awoke from a dream and the memory of it was disintegrating in the light of day. All that remained in her thoughts were impressions of feeling lost, a vast expanse of water and isolation, and losing a very good friend. Thinking of her friend, she looked down at the then dried up and wilted bouquet. "How could it have dried up like that so quickly?" she thought, as the road beneath them turned from dirt to pavement.
Her parents were in the front seat discussing the move. Lost in her own thoughts, the dialog reached Chihiro as random words and background noise. Suddenly, the car came to a stop. Chihiro shifted her attention to her parents. Her mother's voice asked, "Are you sure it was right?"
"Yes," her father exclaimed with authority.
"Let's check the radio to be sure," her mother replied. The sound of a radio being tuned from station to station to station broke the muffled silence of the otherwise placid cabin. Her father looked back around the headrest and called out, "Chihiro!"
"What?" she replied in an annoyed tone.
"What time do you think it is?"
"Four or five. Why?"
"Somehow my watch calendar shows it is two o'clock Tuesday afternoon."
"But it's Saturday--and it was at least 3:30 when we stopped to see that old ruin. Something must've happened to your watch, daddy."
"That's what I thought, but the dash clock agrees with my watch."
The radio went back into silence as her mother said, "I didn't hear anything that would tell us the time or day, but I clearly remember it being two-thirty when we got off at the Toki Interchange." The car started back into motion and Chihiro resumed her well-practiced listless pose in the back seat.
A few seconds later, father found the turn he had missed earlier. They proceeded up the hill on the sharply angled road toward their new home. Just before they reached their new blue house, father eyed a Lawson Station convenience store on the left and pulled the car into the tiny parking area in front.
"I'm going to get some coffee and a newspaper. I'll be right back," her father exclaimed. Mother added, "I need to use the restroom and I'm not sure the water is on yet at the house... ...Chihiro?"
"Go ahead. I'll just wait. I can walk here later if I need to."
As she sat there alone, she felt oddly unsettled. She wanted to do something or go somewhere, but there was nothing concrete. A few hours ago, she thought, she knew exactly what she wanted--or didn't want as the case was. She hated the idea of moving away from her friends and she resented her father's reassignment to manage the Tochinoki Green Hills Country Club in Gifu Prefecture. His previous assignment at the Chofu Green Hills Country Club western Tokyo was a lot better place, she thought. The car door opened in front, breaking Chihiro's thoughts.
Her parents looked visibly upset, but didn't exchange any words. The car started up and backed out pointing toward the direction from which they came. "Aren't we going the wrong way?" Chihiro asked. "We have to go to the clinic back in Mitake and get checked out," replied her father. "We must have eaten something and passed out. Today is Tuesday!"
The telephone rang at the Gifu Prefecture Public Health Affairs office. Doctor Iimura, a specialist in dietary supplements, was paged and he picked up the line.
"Hello. This is Iimura..."
"Dr. Iimura, this is Hiroyuki Ohta at the Ohta clinic in Mitake."
"Mitake--I think I've been through there on the way to play golf."
"Correct. In fact, this call is about the new manager at the Tochinoki course."
"Eh?"
"I just released a family of three after they came here complaining that they lost track of three days. They suspect it might have been something they ate."
"Did you find anything?"
"There was nothing they ate in the last several days that could explain a lapse of consciousness, but..."
"But?"
"I'm sending you some samples for analysis. There's something very strange, here."
"How so?"
"The family consists of a 38-year old father, a 35 year old mother, and a 10 year old daughter. Though they have no remembrance, all three ate, uh, very well."
"Why did you put it that way, Dr Ohta?"
"If I didn't know any better, I'd say they ate like forest animals. The really odd thing was that the young daughter had a different diet--more protein."
"People do that sometimes when they are hungry in the wild. Why do you think that's so unusual?"
"The parents ate pretty much the normal forest fare of berries and nontoxic leafy foods, but the daughter had a diet consisting of foods the human stomach can't digest without ill effect. I'd like to see your analysis."