RyokOhio: The Lewises In Japan Blog: Japan Trip 2019, Day 5: TeamLab Planets

Did you know that nothing opens in Japan until 9:30, 10 or 11 a.m.? You find that out right quick when you wake up at 5, can't really eat at a restaurant for breakfast until 7 and then can't go shopping until 10 or 11. SIGH. I kind of forget about that bit and then remember real quick.

Luckily, Denny's is the earliest to open and we really love their food here, and it's on the second floor of our hotel, so we had breakfast there once again. And once again I got the Japanese breakfast of grilled salmon, rice, miso, and (this time) tofu salad. Jeff once again got the French toast and sausage. I really wish I had a way to cook the salmon as crispily and deliciously as they do here!

We had some time to kill until 12:30 and just sorta ambled about Akihabara, going into shops that were slowly opening: Animate, Trader, Jungle, and Retro Game Camp. Some we went to in hopes of finding an old PC game, some just to look around. Both Ikebukuro and Akihabara are big anime centrals but they are complete opposites of each other. In Ikebukuro you will find much more anime geared towards girls, idol merch, boy bands, and BL. Meanwhile over in Akihabara we sat in front of Animate waiting for it to open and the store next door was blasting a song of high voiced girls singing "Ippai~! Oppai~! O-P-P-A-I!" Yup, night and day. Yin and Yang. Mars and Venus.

Finally it was around 11:30 and we took the train to Odaiba. A stop or two before we got off, a couple of elderly people got on and Jeff and I offered them our seats. We did the ol' "Oh, it's okay!" "No we insist!" "Oh we couldn't." "Please have our seat." and in the end they sat down. Then one of them got our attention and handed us a package with two peaces of mochi in it! She said it was a "thank you" gift. SO SWEET! It was adorable and we thanked them profusely for the gift as we left the train. It was really tasty! We ate it outside teamLab Planets, our attraction for the day.

TeamLab Planets and TeamLab Borderless are two sensory media art attractions that are here in Japan for a limited time. Think of it as the ultimate Instagram opportunity, or just a cool, sensory art exhibit. I had dressed appropriately knowing some of what was in store for us. Hint: mirrors and water.

After putting our shoes, socks and stuff in a locker (trust me, the less you carry (and more secure pockets) the better), we started the exhibit. First stop was the pillow room! Holy cow, I think I got quite the workout in trying to cross this room. Think of one of those beanbag chairs but the size of a small theater! Now imagine trying to cross that theater but the beanbag fluff makes you sink up to your knees and thighs and it's nigh on impossible to not fall over and giggle because it's so absurd!

Then we walked into a room of mirrors and looooooong rope LED lights that twinkled and blinked and reached up really high, and the mirrors on the floor made them look like they went up, down, and left and right forever. Very cool.

Another room was filled with knee-high warm, milky water that had fish and flowers projected onto it. The koi would react and swim away from people, but if they touched a person, they turned into flower petals! Again, these rooms are dark, with mirrors, giving the illusion of being larger than it is, and the milky water glowed softly while the digital fish swam about.

The next room was domed and dark, like a planetarium, and you could lay down and look up and see flowers and petals everywhere, and the air even smelled like flowers!

There was a great "instagrammable" room filled with giant white balls that were either sucked up into the air or blown down onto the group of people, and their colors would change. When they came back down it turned the room into a giant, ball pit-like maze!

There was an app I had downloaded but it didn't work too well. All I got was the information for one room about the intent of the artist, but apparently you could interact with the installments. I saw it working for another person! I bet he had an iPhone and it's on of those apps that works best on iOS. Japan is very much an iPhone country, not much Android over here!

That was the main event planned for the day, so now we were free to really do whatever we want, so we went back to Ikebukuro so I could look for a shirt I saw. Alas, it wasn't what I thought it was, but we got to see some sort of event near the Animate store. There was a wrestling ring with a match going on, and pop up tents and cafes and a ton of cosplayers! So many cool wigs and awesome makeup!! There were a lot of people!

We were hungry, since we didn't have lunch yet, and it was after 2:00, so we decided what we were in the mood for (sushi) and just plugged into Google Maps "sushi near me" and it showed Daimaru Suisan, a kaiten susshi chain and that sounded more than okay to me! It was a short walk away and we were able to be seated right away at the counter. Now this was an even cooler kaiten sushi than your usual sushi-go-round with the chef in the middle and you just picking up whatever looks appetizing. This place as an iPad at the table (with an English option, yay!) and you pick out what sushi you want and submit your order. Then a few minutes later the sushi will come by on the track in front of you, stop, you pick up your little plate, and send it back. Choo choo! The sushi train has arrived! They have so much more than just sushi. Jeff had sweet potato fries and a small ramen. I stuck to good ol' sushi. Then you take your place number up to the casheir and, instead of counting up plates, they have the info from the iPad right there and your bill total all ready!

This place was in the basement of a building called Round One, where the first two floors above that are an arcade with UFO catchers and rhythm games. I'm a sucker for going around and watching people try and win prizes. There was a super SUPER perfect stuffed animal of Yoshikitty (X Japan Hello Kitty) in a Christmas outfit, but I realized after a few dollars there was no way in heck I could win it. Even the experienced UFO catcher people were failing. I DID win my first UFO catcher prize though! On the second floor were some smaller toys and one had a cute little raccoon and I figured I'd give it a try. Got him on two tries! Now I have a little raccoon plush charm! I'm pretty sure his little tag says he's from America Wisconsin??? LOLOLOLOL!!

Across the way a UNIQLO caught our eye and, since we hadn't been in one yet (thankfully we haven't needed any new or different clothing since the weather was once again PERFECT), but the top floor had some cute shirts, so we bought one that I think both Jeff and I can fit in XD

In hopes that they might have the Yoshikitty at the Sanrio store, we popped in, but no luck on that front. What they did have was a little section of Yoshikitty stuff that was on sale! I bought a reusable bag which was exactly what I needed! Huzzah!

Today we had been kind to our feet, but it was still a lot of walking, and by 6 p.m. we were ready to head back to the hotel, get a snack and turn in for the night. Tomorrow is Sunday, and many people are off on Sunday, turning the most popular places in Tokyo into giant, crushing, crowds that you can't escape. We learned that last time we tried to go to Harajuku on a Sunday. NEVER AGAIN. So we'll try and think up a place to visit that might not be as crowded. Good night!