Saturday, December 18- Day One
After beginning my new job and surviving the first two weeks of crazy cleaning and reorganizing, Bryan and I took off for five days in Tokyo! After getting our pups settled on the morning of December 18th, we jumped in the car and headed to Nagasaki Airport, where we caught a flight to Narita Airport outside of Tokyo!
Nagasaki Airport is about an hour train ride outside of the city, so we purchased an express train ticket and quickly jumped on the train. Come to find out, we got on the wrong express train...and had to pay an extra $25 for our upgraded train. Oops!
It all worked out in the end and we made it to our hotel by 3:30pm. From our travels so far, we have learned that Japanese hotels are snug and their bathrooms resemble American camper bathrooms! The showers are snug and your knees touch the wall while you use the toilet, but it works! As you know, I challenge myself to find the cheapest hotel option, and this place was $44/night and located in the middle of the city! I'd take this as a win! I mean, look at that view from the 12th-floor lobby! You can't beat that view of the Tokyo Tower!
After dropping our bags off, we headed out to find food, and, boy, did Tokyo STEP UP. The Castillo's sent us a bunch of google pins of places to check out, and the first we hit was DevilCraft. As we walked in, we felt like we had stepped into an American pub with their American craft beers and Chicago-styled deep dish pizzas! Not gonna lie- I teared up when I saw the cider on tap was from Asheville, NC! We were so excited, Bryan even told the waitress that the cider is made in our home state! She seemed as excited as we were! We also spent time looking at all of the stickers from different breweries in Southern California that we had visited during our year at Camp Pendleton, plastered on the refrigerator and above the bar! Bryan and I agreed another trip to Tokyo was in store for us just so we could come back here!
10/10
*chef's kiss*
We loved it so much we bought a glass to add to our collection. We will always remember you, DevilCraft! I have never felt more nostalgic than I did sitting in that pub drinking a NC cider. Man, I miss home.
As we waddled out of DevilCraft, we made the trek across the city on our way to TeamLab: Borderless! Along the way, we reveled at the Christmas lights and the beauty of the city! Then we boarded a train to go across Tokyo's Rainbow Bridge to get to the Odaiba District!
TeamLab Borderless is the original TeamLab experience! If you remember back, we visited two other TeamLab experiences: one in Saga and another in Fukuoka. We loved those so much, we just had to visit the original museum and it surely didn't disappoint!
So TeamLab Borderless's main concept is that art is beyond borders and cannot be contained in a single structure, so instead, the art literally travels around the museum and moves from room to room. This means that each room you visit will change over time to display other works of art. In the photos below, you can see a glass-paneled room, where traditional samurai soldiers pose in their respective cases. As we walked through this exhibit, the Samurais decided to leave, and their projections left the room and walked down the hall to another area! Bryan and I were blown away and followed these soldiers as they walked to another part of the exhibit!
Another unique part of this museum was the layout. Since the art can't be contained, it was difficult to find the entryways to some of the rooms. Each entryway was covered with thick, black curtains, so you had to graze your hands along the walls as you walked to find the different rooms!
Many of the rooms were covered in different flower projections, and one memorable room was covered in butterflies. As you touched the butterflies, they fell to the ground and became fallen leaves. After reading the plaque on the wall, we learned that these butterflies can escape the room and flutter around the entire museum, but once they are touched, they fall to the ground and have to be reborn in the butterfly room.
We also enjoyed the "floating nest" room, where a giant trampoline/nest contraption held you suspended in the air as you laid down and watched the ceiling transform into colors and lights! Bryan and I were ready to fall asleep then and there!
Another memorable room was the lily pad area, where you enter the room below water level, and can look up at the lily pads above you. As you walk through the room, you slowly rise up and end up "wading" through the pretend lily pad lake! While we were in this room, the exhibit changed from blues and greens to bright pink and red- completely altering the experience and really making the "borderless" concept come full circle!
As we walked along the dark hallway, we brushed another curtain that led us into this amazing light display! Hanging from the ceiling are thousands of these LED light strips that transition from bright white to rainbow! At one point, they even transformed into a rain shower- filled with thunder and rain sounds! This was my favorite room in the exhibit- I mean, look at those pictures!
Eventually, we found a staircase that led us to the second floor, that we didn't even know existed! Upstairs had two different create-your-own art areas, where you colored the pictures provided, and the art curators scanned your completed masterpiece into the system, and then we watched as our art became part of the exhibit! One room focused on endangered Asian animals, and we were blown away as our art was scanned and we were able to interact with our creatures in this huge space!
In the other create-your-own art room, Bryan colored a building and I did Santa and his sleigh! Then we watched as our creations were added to the holiday room! It was a truly amazing experience and completely blew our minds in terms of the traditional "art museum" concept!
We also experienced some TeamLab classic experiences that we enjoyed at other TeamLab locations- like the hanging lanterns from Saga and the colorful ball room from Fukuoka. Both of these experiences were worth a second visit! We also sweated off our dinner earlier in the active area, where we climbed on colorful swinging bars, jumped through an obstacle course and slid down a huge, techni-flower-covered slide!
Check out this video with some clips from our night at TeamLab: Borderless:
As TeamLab Borderless closed down for the night, we snuck out of the art museum just in time to ride the Daikanransha before heading back to our hotel for the night! This giant Ferris wheel was the perfect way to end our first day in Tokyo, where we could stay warm and look out at the colorful city! We were told that during the day, you can see all the way to Mount Fuji san from here!
December 19, 2021- Day Two
Sunday, December 19 began with an early morning adventure trying to make it to breakfast! We were told Eggs 'n Things is not to be missed, and with it being a Hawaiian restaurant that is known for their American-styled breakfast, we made sure it was on our list of stops. Bryan directed us, and we did good- until we got in not just one wrong elevator, but TWO wrong elevators! Luckily the second elevator also had a local woman trying to ride up, and she translated the Japanese message saying the elevator was broken. At this point we followed the Japanese woman and found the correct entrance and made our way up to the third floor, where we got in line for a table!
The food sure didn't disappoint! Bryan got a meat omelet with a side of buttermilk pancakes, while I devoured a plate of chocolate chip pancakes! Together we shared a caramel popcorn latte, which was covered in delicious caramel popcorn and dripping with caramel sauce!
Filled with good food, we decided to walk to the Imperial Palace! The Imperial Palace, previously known as Edo Castle, has been home to the Emperor and his family since 1867 when the capital of Japan moved from Kyoto to Tokyo. Bryan and I were shocked to learn that Kyoto was the capital for over a millennium, making Tokyo a younger capital than DC!
While we weren't able to get very close to the Palace, we did explore a tamon on the property. A tamon is a single-story building that is normally built on the outskirts of the castle grounds, and is used to store the castle's weapons. Its also the first place used to protect the castle, due to its location and can be used to fire on attackers in case of an attack. This specific tamon, Fujimi Tamon, is believed to date back to 1659 and was named after the stunning view of Fuji san right out the back windows! So while the castle has only been home to the Emperor and his family for 150 years, the established Edo Castle has been here in Tokyo for a very long time.
Next stop: Shibuya Crossing! This street crossing is known for being the busiest pedestrian crossing in the world. At this three-way crosswalk, as many as 3,000 people can cross during a single crosswalk signal. Holy crap! This was packed with people and Bryan and I escaped the madness for a minute by going up to the second-floor Starbucks to watch the crossing from up high! We then braved the streets and got pictures as we joined the crowds walking through the streets. During later research, I learned that Shibuya Crossing is known as the Time Square of Tokyo!
After surviving our busy street crossing, we made our way to another Castillo restaurant suggestion, Goodbeer Faucets, where we each got a drink and then shared some french fries! Bryan was feeling adventurous, so he got a Fruit Smoothie Beer from Kumamoto, that was very thick and had chunks of fruit in it! It did throw me off a bit, watching the bartender pour it out of the tap...nothing that looks like a smoothie should come out of a keg. BUT I will say, it was quite delicious! I stuck with my normal, deeply missed, cider and tried one from Australia!
After our snack, we walked to Yoyogi Park, the Central Park of Tokyo. Bryan and I found a bench and people-watched while listening to the street performers play some drums! Eventually, we walked around the park, and stumbled upon a dog park! Of course, we had to stop and watch the pups play, while missing our own babies!
Our adventure continued as we made our way around the Harajuku District's Takeshita Street. This colorful area is famous for its teen and cosplay fashion, as well as its street food of crepes and cotton candy! After our snacks and drinks earlier, we skipped out on the treats, and we were shocked to find this street packed so full of people! We could barely move down the street, and instead shuffled along as the crowd pushed us through the busy street!
After surviving the crazy crowds, we made our way to dinner at Smokehouse, a BBQ joint I found during my trip planning process! Bryan was in heaven with the NC-style BBQ, delicious brisket, BBQ chicken, mac-n-cheese, and mashed sweet potatoes! During dinner, we decided we weren't going to eat any Japanese food during our entire trip. Instead, we were going to unashamedly chow down on American cuisine for a week, since we can't get food like this in Sasebo!
Before leaving the area, we headed back to Shibuya Crossing to experience this area at night! It was just as crowded as before, but lit up in the city's lights!
Check out our video of Shibuya Crossing:
Our last stop for the day was the famous Tokyo Tower! Located just a few blocks from our hotel, the Tokyo Tower stands 333 meters tall and is a slightly larger version of its twin, the Eiffel Tower in Paris, France. For ￥2400, we traveled up 150 meters to look out at the stunning view of central Tokyo! This tower was built in 1958 as a symbol of the city's rebirth following WWII, and was the tallest building in Tokyo until 2012. The Tokyo Tower is known as a tourist attraction, but it also serves as a radio tower for the country.
Bryan surprised me with a new phone for Christmas, and I got my money's worth with the night photos I took from the tower! Wow! We were really blown away with the view and this amazing city!
The trip continues, so keep reading!
--Katie
I love the picture of you two at night in the Shibua crossing!