Our second day in Japan was marked by spectacular views of a thoroughly modern metropolis rather than the timeless and ancient city we had gotten glimpses of the day before. We had high hopes of trying a miso soup restaurant for breakfast, but our previous late night made getting up early and then waiting in the long line less than appealing. Instead, we decided to stop at a few vendors near our hotel to sample quick grab and go bites. The first stop was a bakery where we split a packaged pancake with a sweet potato spread. Next, we each got a wagyu beef sandwich on soft white bread. Next to it was a coffee shop selling what looked like fish-shaped waffles with chocolate filling. These taiyaki were advertised at many stalls, so I was curious to try them. The cashier recommended the red bean filling as well as the chocolate, and we got both to try. The idea of bean paste inside of a breakfast pastry or dessert sounded unappealing, but it actually was better than the chocolate! It was savory and provided a good counterbalance to the sweetness of the waffle-like fish.
We took an Uber to TeamLab Planets which, truthfully, was the trickiest attraction to schedule into our trip. The ticket was easy to purchase as part of a bundle with our Tokyo Skytree ticket we’d use later that night (Klook is the go-to website to purchase experiences), however, the city is massive, and TeamLab Planets was pretty far from our hotel and the other experiences we were looking to do that weekend. We chose to try and go early in the morning to beat the crowds and to maximize our ability to visit attractions closer to our hotel. However, despite the inconvenience to get there, TeamLabs was a must do, and I would gladly visit it again and again…and again.
TeamLabs is set up as an immersive and interactive art exhibit that marries art, technology, and childhood whimsy together. As you enter the exhibit, you’re instructed to leave your shoes in a locker and to roll your pants up to your knees (or, better yet, borrow a pair of shorts from the facility) because you will be wading through water. In fact, the very first exhibit had us walk up a ramp of shallow water to see a waterfall that lit the entire corridor in splinters of radiating light. Now, I thought this was all there was to the water and scoffed at the shorts rental that had been offered earlier. The waterfall was pretty, but the ankle deep water wasn’t anything to write home about. Boy, was I wrong.
The next room we entered was straight out of childhood. The floor and walls were made of a soft, squishy, spongy material, and it was perfect for jumping. It was a room meant for fun, but the next room was meant for true wonder. From floor to ceiling hung crystals in long vertical dangling rows, and these crystals changed colors based on visitors tapping on a color burst on the TeamLabs app. The mirrors installed on the floors and walls made it seem like a maze and made the shimmering lights look like, well, a whole other plant. Christmas lights displays are one of my favorite parts about Christmas, and this labyrinth of a room gave me the same feelings of awe.
What I remember next was one of my favorite rooms and the one where those shorts would have really come in handy. We entered a room with knee-deep water that had projections of koi fish swimming all around us. While the simulated koi swimming alongside us were cool, it was even cooler that the projections interacted with us! If the koi ran into you, they would burst into flowers upon contact. The lights, the music, and the flowers made me feel like I was stepping into the movie Tangled, and I loved lingering in this room of nature and whimsy.
The theme of flowers was explored creatively in two other rooms. One felt like a nod to the planetariums you might have visited in grade school. You were asked to sit (or lay) in the middle of the floor as a computer generated images of flowers growing and flowering and fading across the ceilings and walls in an endless orbit of seasons. The final room of the whole exhibit was the only timed one, and you were invited to sit amongst a sea of orchids growing vertically all around you. If you’ve ever wondered what peace feels like, it is gazing up at a sky full of pink and purple blooms after playing like a child and seeing images that took your breath away.
One room that seemed to attract a lot of photographs was filled with human-sized balls that changed colors as they were interacted with. The balls were on leads so they couldn’t roll very far if you got too enthusiastic in your color-changing mission.
We finished TeamLabs wishing we could enter and walk through it all over again, but we were on a mission. After consulting my trusty friend, Reddit, I learned that Tokyo Cruise has boats that leave from Obaida Seaside Park (about a 20 minute metro ride from TeamLabs) and return only a few minutes away from our hotel. Along the way, you can see the modern buildings of Tokyo from the open-air viewing area or in front of the expansive windows.
Before boarding the metro, we saw a vendor selling snacks, and he was playing “Country Roads” (in English) on a loop. A pigeon landed on his back and he didn’t even react, and he would give kids a little prize if they played rock, paper, scissors with him. All in all, he seemed like a cool guy, so we stopped for a bao bun. While the pigeons were curious, none of them landed on me (my worst nightmare).
We got to the Seaside Park with plenty of time to spare, so we stopped at one of Tokyo’s most unexpected attractions, a replica of the Statue of Liberty. Despite living on Long Island for most of my life, I never actually went to visit the Statue of Liberty, so seeing this replica is the closest I’ve gotten. You can take the girl out of NY but can’t take the NY out of the girl, I guess. We browsed around the giant shopping mall to kill some more time and then boarded the boat. We paid a little extra for a reserved table to sit at, but there was plenty of open seating if you wanted to take shelter from the wind (which most people chose to do). With tea in hand and a close up look at the sprawling city, I was more than happy to spend an hour soaking it all in.
When we got back to Asakusa, our first stop was Kamiyabar, Tokyo's oldest Western-style bar. Tom ordered their signature drink, a Denki Bran, and I ordered croquettes for us to split. I was still hungry, so we decided to wander around the shops outside of the temple to find more food to split. We ultimately decided on the vendor I was most excited to try: Asakusa Taco-Taco Koromo Brothers. Their specialty is takoyaki inside of shrimp cracker taco shell, and it totally lived up to the hype.
We took the metro one stop away to Tokyo Skytree for our 7PM ticket time. There are two separate tickets for Skytree. The first brings you decently high up (350 meters), but the second brings you on top of the world (450 meters). The lights are expansive and never ending, and the whole SkyTree Town gave off Christmas vibes. In fact, they had a European-style Christmas market set up outside of the tower, but it was closing by the time we were done with our observation session. There was a photographer station where you could get your picture taken with the view of the city’s lights, and the rhythmic chant of "Three, two, one, SkyTree” is forever seared into my memory. We visited the older Tokyo Tower the next day, and we actually preferred that one, surprisingly!
Once we were done, we were on a mission, and we had literally no time to spare. I had promised my brother Pokemon souvenirs, and SkyTree Town had a Pokemon Center. I had less than 20 minutes until the mall closed, so with a hurried pace, we made it to the shop with less than 10 minutes to spare. The employees were so kind and helpful, and the selection would have been a dream for Johnny. When we were kids visiting the Japan Pavilion in Epcot, Johnny loved to play with the Pokemon plush and would agonize over what souvenir to bring home. I was so happy that I could fill a bag with plush and other Pokemon related items for his Christmas gifts.
I was a little sad that Johnny wasn’t there with me because I know he would love Japan so much. He took two classes about Japan during his high school homeschooling years, and anime and video games have been his obsession for as long as we can remember. He wanted us to read him the Pokemon handbook as a bedtime story when he was in kindergarten, and he can tell you anything you want to know about any Pokemon you can name (and a bunch I didn’t even know existed). We played with Pokemon figures and wrote fanfiction together, and most of his shirts have his favorite Pokemon on them. Going out for sushi, a bento box, ramen, or tempura is always his favorite dinner, and he is always looking for Hello Panda and Pocky. I am so grateful for these adventures, but I really wish my family could experience them too. For now, pictures, videos, and bags of treats will have to do.
Once we finished at SkyTree, we needed to find something more substantial to eat than those snacks we had finished hours before. We decided to wander around near the temple, and lo and behold we discovered what will be known as the best themed bar: Not Suspicious. The cramped bar advertises its hours on its Instagram page and happily declares itself to be foreigner friendly. And really, that was true. People from all over the world were drinking and talking together, and every customer was invited to add a drawing to the chaotic stacks of papers that decorated every surface in the establishment. We drew herons, bought some t-shirts, and even ended up on the bar’s Instagram story the following night when we ran into the owner outside of the Thunder Gate. Tokyo might be a big city, but it can also feel like a small town.
We continued to wander until we could find something to eat and settled on a ramen restaurant. I was disappointed that I had had better ramen in Newport News and Norfolk, but the hotel’s free ramen the following night boasted a more robust flavor that made up for the disappointing late night ramen adventure. Finally, weary from our full day, we returned to the hotel.
Our last full day in Tokyo was defined by European food and the magic of wandering.
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