Walking Through a 1000 Chapter Story

I started the day with picking up my suits! One somewhat unexpected issue was that I was measured at the start of the trip, and I was quite frankly not in the best shape at the time. Walking everywhere, every day, for two months and some extra long biking and hiking was helping me feel healthier and more energetic. And although I basically never said no to food, I'd say they average portions were reduced. With that combo, my pants were way too baggy and needed to be brought in two inches. So, still needing one of them, I decided to play musical chairs and have one altered while I wore the other, and then would swap in a week. I do love how they turned out though, and I got some great ties to go with them.

For the rest of the day, I wandered over to Tachikawa; a neighboring city of Tokyo (still considered Tokyo metro) that was an hour train ride away. The town was closer to the mountains, and while near the main station was still the typical Tokyo jumble of shopping and lights, it mellowed out quickly and had some lovely areas and a beautiful park. The reason I ventured so far? Why, to find the One Piece of course! More specifically, to visit a temp exhibit I saw a flier for. I had read One Piece (yes, all 1300+ chapters) recently after loving the Netflix show, and was excited to see whatever the exhibit had in store (couldn't really tell by the flier). Arriving, I saw the start of the exhibit; a floor to ceiling white wall with a paper lining. Getting past the ticketing, I learned it was a celebration of the 1000th chapter of the manga, and had a bunch of displays on how manga is produced, story boards, printer dies, etc. Unfortunately no photos were allowed, so I'll do my best to describe the real kicker: the floor to ceiling paper. At the start, with a 1997 plastered on the floor, the very top of the paper (about 15ft in the air) had page 1 and 2 of Chapter 1 of the manga pasted neatly in place. Right below, page 3 and 4. This continued along the long winding wall, shaped in a spiral like pattern until the end of the exhibit at Episode 1000. EVERY. SINGLE. PAGE. Walking through the story I would look for memorable panels or moments I loved, or just happen upon stupid jokes and funny asides I had forgotten about. I'm sure it took forever to do, and they didn't even have Luffy's Gum Gum arms to help out. It was an amazing exhibit, and cemented why the story is beloved and the best selling manga of all time (even if I wish some of their anime tropes were addressed, but I digress).Läs mer