A Monster Mashup In Western Tokyo

12 July 2025

Given the gift of an afternoon off, I got on my bike and rode somewhat familiar paths to get reacquainted with old monster “mates” I’d encountered in days gone by.

First, I met green Godzilla, a topiary treat from Toho, before heading toward Chofu to see a collection of the yokai spirits created by Shigeru Mizuki.

A little bit of a roundabout journey followed, dropping by the Ghibli Museum in Mitaka and then onto the Kokubunji Totoro before racing back to pick up a new phone bought because the battery in my old one conks out within a couple of hours of using it.

Unfortunately, performance on the new phone mimics this, so I am either doing something wrong or I got dudded by the reassurances of the au staff that my old phone was an anomaly. I fear it’s the latter, so might be about to turn into a bit of a monster myself.