Tokyo was incredible, and I sit back with the feeling that I only saw a fraction of what this amazing city has to offer.

The best bits of the holiday was

• The day in Asakusa, seeing the Sensoji temple and trying a hot bath
• Shibuya. Spending time in Yoyogi park, seeing the Meiji shrine, dinner and view at Tokyo Metropolitan Government Building. The Shibuya crossing and the Hachiko statue was also fun to see. (we did see the Hachiko movie in Japan).
• TeamLab Boarderless was truely amazing
• Mori Art Museum – outstanding art.
• Robot restaurant. No need to eat, but seeing the show was truly a crazy experience

The good bits:

• Seeing the owls of Ikebukuro was great, although unsure if I would recommend it. We also saw a shrine there. It had the second largest ginko tree of Japan, but wasnt so interesting otherwise.
• The sky tree. Amazing view, but far too touristy. And I think the view from the Tokyo Metropolitan Government Building was already pretty good.
• Ginza. Its fun to see the highend stuff. It just didnt seem so unique for Tokyo. I might be wrong. Perhaps we didnt spend enough time there.
• Edo and Hibiya park. Ok, nothing too impressive.
• Harajuko. I quite liked this area, but I wasnt quite so impressed as I had expected to be.
• Cooking japanese recipes at home.

Nearby bits:

• Kamakura. I highly recommend seeing the shrines and walking around. We had such an amazing day, and some of these shrines were so unique.
• Tsukuba Space Centre. I have been to the one in the US, but I think this one is far better. Lots of fun, even for kids.

The Robot show in Shinjuki was out of this world. We had read beforehand that it’s not so much robots, as it is just a crazy show. You know how someone can say a cat is so ugly that it is cute? This show is a bit like that. It is so ridiculous that it is hilarious. I would definitely recommend it.

Before the show started, we watched some sort of singing upstairs. It was very varied, and just as crazy as everything else. I dare say these people must have a great deal of fun putting together this show. Meanwhile watching the singing, I ordered a Matcha Martini, which might have been the best cocktail I’ve ever had. At least I loved the bright green colour. That being said, with all this craziness, I would probably have loved just about any drink.

PS. The Robot show is really called Robot restaurant. We were recommended not to eat there though, and just watch the show. Im glad we did. And as far as I could tell, noone was actually eating there.

Ginza is the highend shopping area of Tokyo, located in the Chuo district. It is considered one of the most expensive, luxurious and elegant streets of the world. Many leading fashion houses flagship stores are located here. It’s the area with the highest concentration of western shops in Tokyo.

We went to see Itoya, which is a 9 floor tall stationary shop. Each floor having a specific theme. I bought a new diary, which funnily is from march 2019 to march 2020.

Other than that, we mostly just looked around.

 

 

Ikebukuro is a commercial district in Tokyo. The Ikebukuro station handles over a million passengers a day, which makes it the second busiest railway station surpassed only by Shinjuku station.

Locals of Ikebukuro likes to toy with the alternative meaning of the similar word fukurou which means owl. Because of this, you’ll find owl statues and items all around the place.

I met this little guy, and quite enjoyed being so close to an owl. Im not sure the owls like being petted though.

Had the most incredible time visiting TeamLab Borderless. Like walking into a wonderland. Love interactive stuff like this, and how it was so varied.

Mori art musem was incredible. We saw the “Connexions” exhibition, and it had so much fun stuff to see. This pink cat is by Iikawa Takehiro (1). The pink cat refers to a crab that attaches various objects around it onto its body in order to mimic its surroundings, though the crabs true form is seldom seen. When viewers attempt to take a photograph of the work, they realize that no matter how hard they try, its impossible to capture the whole figure (as its partly hidden behind a wall). This work alludes the difficulty in our information-overload society of obtaining a full view of something or the whole truth. An other favourite was the “A live un live”. It uses a material that deploys liquids that have a low boiling point and shifts forms like living organisms. These colours, whose shapes and colours demonstrate a myriad of changes just as the sun rises and sets, promt us to reconsider the diversity of forms that life can take. Picture (2) is taken without flash, as it appears when you just look at it. Picture (3) is taken with flash, showing the magic. Also really enjoyed this one by “Me” (4). It is about how we cannot actually approach the ocean landscape. When we draw closer, the ocean becomes waves, and when we come closer still, the waves becomes water. All of the pieces were so interesting, and I’d so love to show them all. But I’ll stop here, as the post is getting too long 😉

 

Started the day in Yoyogi park, one of Tokyos largest city parks. Then heading up to see the Meiji Shrine, which is dedicated to the deified spirits of Emperor Meiji and his consort, Empress Shoken. We cleaned our hands in the holy water, then went to see the Tokyo Rainbow pride. We passed through the Shibuya crossing, which is said to be the worlds busiest roadcross with about 1000 people crossing at the same time (picture 4). We stopped by the statue of Hachiko the lojal dog who came to this station every day for 10 years waiting for his owner to get back from work after the owner had died from a heart attach at work. We then went to the Tokyo Metropolitan Government Building (picture 6) and had dinner and cocktails in the north tower. View was amazing and the cocktails were some of the best Ive ever had. Passed by Godzilla in Shinjuku on our way back.

Still struggling with jetlag, but managed to get out of bed at 12. We decided to spend the day in Tokyo and stepped off the train in the Asakusa area. Our first stop was a department store called Yodobashi Camera. It has all sorts of fun stuff, like tons of camera equipment, gigantic TVs, but also kitchen supplies and massage chairs. After looking around the store, we went to the Sensoji temple. This is Tokyos eldest temple and dates back to year 645.

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We ended the day having a hot bath at Jakosuju, one of the traditional public hot bathhouses that has existed since the Edo period. This hot spring has “black water” which is said to date back to the Paleozoic era, during which the grass and leaves that were buried underground blended into the ground water to create this mineral spring. First cleaning ourselves in those weird sitting showers, before jumping into the hot water. You could switch between hot and cold water, but I preferred staying in the hot water, which was at approx. 40 degrees. Enjoyed having a lovely chat with some of the locals. Guess there is something disarming about sitting naked together in hot water. The perfect way to relax after a long day of trotting around in Asakusa.