We mentally prepared ourselves for Tokyo to be a let down compared to Kyoto (because how can you honestly beat Kyoto?). This ended up being true but we still enjoyed our time here! One of the things we noticed right away was how clean the entire city felt. There was no trash on the ground (hardly even a cigarette butt or a gum wrapper) yet there also weren’t any trash cans. It was quite the contrast to many of the cities we have previously visited. Although it stood out for being super clean, it felt like most other big cities we have travelled to.
Wandering through Hibiya Park:
Near Kokyomae Square:
We spent our time walking around the city and exploring the different parts of town. We started off with croissants and coffee in Yoyogi Park, which had roses flowering around every corner. The flowers are in preparation for the 2020 Tokyo olympics, and you can see a lot of construction going on through the city for the upcoming games.
Croissants are always a good idea:
Taylor cheesin’ in front of the wall of roses:
Many beautiful flowers starting to bloom:
One of the most interesting neighborhoods was Harajuku, a famous area for vintage clothing stores and bizarre fashion. We were excited at the idea of getting some second hand clothing because we have been wearing the same small selection of outfits for the last four months. This excitement quickly disappeared when we walked into the first shop and saw the prices…like $40 for a tee shirt. Maybe if it were a designer tee shirt or inlaid with gold thread and diamonds, we would understand the pricing. But these were regular Hanes tee shirts (used, old tee shirts) for $40. FOURTY DOLLARS. You can literally get the same shirt at Walmart or on Amazon for under $5.
The weird part was that they were also clearly from the US. They had the names of charity events, sporting teams, and some were even DIY tie-dyed. It was almost like someone went to a Goodwill in New England, brought the items to Japan, and were selling them for 20x their worth. It was not only bizarre (and annoying because we didn’t end up getting anything) but people were actually the clothes! As we walked down the street, we entered an even more expensive area where they were selling eclectic designer clothes. We were quickly turned off when we saw a $500 price tag on a plain white tee shirt with a picture of an American model on it that looked that it had basically been ironed on. Maybe we just don’t understand fashion, but we decided to stick with our own dirty tee shirts. Needless to say, we left Harajuku shortly after arriving but were glad to have been able to witness it.
Then we got to ride backwards on the above ground subway in the very last cart which was a fun and unusual experience:
One of the most interesting things we did in Tokyo was something called “TeamLab Borderless” which is a digital art museum. It’s one of those places that you have to see for yourself but we will do our best at explaining it. You first enter a long dark hallway and come out into a massive room covered in mirrors and digital screened walls. It felt a lot like Alice in wonderland, except we weren’t on drugs. The building was multiple floors and each room was different from the next. There also wasn’t a map of the space so you were encouraged to wander around and see where you ended up. Some rooms had walls that reacted when you went near them by changing colors or playing different ambient music. Some rooms were more physical and required you to jump or climb around. Some rooms had large bean bags for you to sit in and simply observe your surroundings. Here’s a few of our favorites.
Roaming around the galactic rainbow forest:
Tristan looking like a modern art painting:
This felt a lot like being below lily pads in a pond:
The view from above:
Playing with larger-than-life floating balloons:
This room had a mirrored floor, walls, and ceiling as well as hundreds of glowing lanterns that changed colored if you brushed against them:
Look closely and you can see a person towards the middle/right side of the frame:
This room had thousands of LED light strings that pulsed differed colors and made us feel like we were floating in a bizarre, twinkling, alternate universe:
Here’s a quite clip from inside the above room:
It was one of the most unique and entertaining exhibits we have been to and would highly recommend it to anyone in the Tokyo area. After we left the museum and ventured back out into the real world, we decided that “hey, wouldn’t a ride on the Ferris wheel be fun?” It was approaching sunset and we were feeling adventurous so we bought two tickets. Before we knew it, the attendant loaded us into our cart, locked the door, and away we went. For the sake of describing this experience, we will refer to the Ferris wheel like a clock, the top of it being 12 o’clock, and where we boarded was 6 o’clock. So we get to about 7 or 8 o’clock and we’re thinking “ok this is cool, yeah, great idea, going to be a nice sunset view” but within about 2-3 minutes Taylor (and Tristan, but mainly Taylor) immediately began to regret the decision.
It looked so fun and welcoming from the ground:
Taylor showing her first signs of regret:
We (mainly Taylor) are both terrified of heights, and don’t like flying, but this…this was next level. It was honestly more frightening than any plane ride. Instead of being in a large aircraft with other people, you are alone…in a teeny tiny…metal pod…hovering…hundreds of feet in the air. The absolute WORST part was that this thing crawled at a snails pace. Taylor couldn’t even look up to see how far they had left to go because that made her freak out even more. So there we were, sitting in this little pod, on our ride of doom and Taylor couldn’t even unclench her fists from the bar next to her. Being the loving husband he is, Tristan tried to slide over and comfort her but this caused the cart to sway, at which point Taylor may have started cursing and telling him to not move a single muscle.
Realizing just how much she loves being on the ground:
We got to about 10 o’clock and Taylor couldn’t even look outside without feeling faint. Her hands were too sweaty to hold the bar, her feet were sweatier than any feet should ever be, and she was frantically looking at pictures on her phone of friends and family to help her calm down. She may have spent 80% of the ride hunched over, looking at the floor, paralyzed with fear. Eventually we made it to the top, where Tristan graciously took a sunset photo because Taylor couldn’t look out for more than 1.2 seconds.
View from the top, which might not look like much, but it was HIGH:
This is the most genuine “smile” Tristan could capture:
We eventually get to the end, and after a fearful moment of wondering whether the attendant would remember to come unlock us and set us free, we finally got out. Getting out of that cart may have been the fastest Taylor has moved all trip. It’s safe to say we won’t be doing another Ferris wheel ride anytime soon. To help calm our nerves, we went out for some ramen and a few cold beers, then decided to call it a night and head back to our room. It was an eventful trip and one we will not forgot.
Until next time Tokyo!
Love T&T
T&T On The Move 