Let's Lose Our Way Together.

This shirt is from Japan. I got it on my first trip there back in about 2007.

Technically my dad bought this for me. When we went on that trip I hadn't gotten a job yet and pretty much all the funding that I had for souvenirs and stuff came from my parents. If I wanted to have some spending money for the day or buy some special thing I had to ask and get lucky. So in the gift shop at the Studio Ghibli Museum there were about a million different things that I wanted to buy. Everything ranging from DVDs to plushes, cellphone charms to art books. But the shirts spoke to me the most. At the end it was a stalemate between this shirt and one other, but I don't remember what the other even was at this point. A lot of the other souvenirs I could either get stateside or were just way to crazy overpriced to take home. Once I settled on this one we rang all our stuff up and headed back to Tokyo.

I think that this is my favorite shirt of all time. It gets 10/10 in so many categories. Just at a glance, the design is simple, subtle and so enchanting. The fabric is really heavy and extremely high quality. I got a Japanese large because they fit me like a US medium would, and it couldn't fit any better. I have a lot of dark black shirts but this one sets itself apart by being a navy blue, stylish but with a deeper meaning -or something-. It has a custom patch sewn on with its own unique design and very high stitch count. It even makes high marks for rarity, I doubt I will ever meet someone with this same shirt stateside. That is huge points for me because I gain originality and set myself appart by wearing hard to find apparel. The only thing bringing this shirt down is the fact that I have worn it so much. The ink is starting to crack and age and the patch is begging to fray. Other than that I would probably wear this shirt every time it was clean if I could pull it off.

As I was saying, the simplicity of the message here is really what sets the design off. On the top right it has a patch from the museum which says "Ghibli Museum". The picture is a 9 color landscape of the exterior of the museum, complete with giant robot at the top -from Laputa: Castle in the Sky-. Across the chest it says, -in title caps- "Let's Lose Our Way Together". While it is a simple statement, and even a shorter sentence, it says so much. It captures the free-spiritednesss and feelings of exploration & discovery that the Studio Ghibli movies embody. Below the sentence is a line with an arrow on one end. It starts at a dot and ends at a question mark and sort of meanders its way across looping over itself once. This path is one of an open mind and heart, something I aspire to be and search for in others.

I hope that when someone sees this they will immediately get all of the "deep" emotions that are embedded in the design.  It's really as shirt that I want someone to notice and be like, "I feel that way too! Let's you and I have a spontaneous adventure, together!". If that's out of the question, then I'd love to introduce someone to the movies of Studio Ghibli. The films have some of the worlds greatest animation and truly uplifting stories. If somebody actually recognizes the patch or knows where I got it from then they'll be super interested at the rare official merchandise that is difficult or expensive to obtain in the states.

When Moke and I were setting up our itineraries the Studio Ghibli Museum in Mitaka was a high priority on our list. You have to make reservations and buy your tickets months ahead of time so that the park doesn't get crowded. It was an amazing adventure and I hope to go back sometime. If you see me wearing this shirt, it means that I am either feeling more emotional than normal or am reaching out to connect to connect to the world on another level.