After an exhausting day of traveling, we were ready and raring to go on Tuesday. Which is good because we had a 9:00am reservation at teamLabs Planets Tokyo. You might have seen people posting pictures and videos of this exhibit on social media. The website describes it as "together with others, immerse your entire body, perceive with your body, and become one with the world." It is an interactive, sensory art exhibit.
You start off by going into a locker room, taking off your socks and shoes and storing all your personal items before heading into the exhibit.
You start by walking up an inclined plane with ankle deep running water cascading down it. Soft music and lighting set the mood. After you make it to the top, you cry off your feet and then you are surprised by a room I can only describe as a giant bean bag. Like, the floor is made of a super squishy bean bag and you have to climb across it to the exit on the other side.
It was a bit of a work out. A couple people got stuck and needed some help making it to the other side.
As you continued on, you made your way into a room completely lined with mirrors: floor, walls, ceiling. Strings of LED lights hung down from the ceiling and made a path to walk through to the other side of the room. The lights continuously changed and sparkled and it was mesmerizing.
Once you got out of that room, you followed a hall that eventually started leading into deeper water until you entered a room of knee deep, cloudy water with video projections of fish and flowers on the water. Fish swam around you in the water and, sometimes, the water would pulse as the fish swam by you making it feel like they were actually swimming past.
After drying your feet, you followed the hall to a large room with mirrored floors and a domed ceiling with moving flowers projected across. We probably laid on that floor for a good five, ten minutes watching the flowers.
Then we made our way through another mirrored room. This time filled with changing lights and giant white balls (shut up, mom).
Continuing on, you got taken to a small moss garden outside that instead of rocks had shining, bean shaped silver mirrored statues. A bit of a let down after the fish, honestly.
The final room was another one lined with mirrors on all sides. This time, hanging from the ceiling were strings of living flowers. Roots out and everything. They were attached to motion sensors so as you approached, they would slowly rise up around you. We could have stayed forever just wandering between the hanging flowers, but the museum attendants gave groups only a certain amount of time in the space at a time in order to preserve the living flowers.
Honestly, what a gorgeous exhibit. I highly recommend it. 10 out of 10.
Once we were done, it was barely 11:00 am, but we were ready for lunch. Maddie found a place on her phone and we hiked in the sweaty heat to a mall with a floor devoted to restaurants. Our restaurant turned out to be a Korean barbecue and we split some sets. Very tasty.
After eating, we were still hungry. So we found another restaurant! Got some pastas and Maddie and I split a hamburger with an omelet on top. Also tasty.
After we had cooled off a bit, we took the train and hiked out to Harajuku street. Harajuku is the alternative fashion capital of Japan. When I was telling people we were going to Japan this summer, a lot of people were saying I needed to go to Harajuku and I DEFINITELY agreed! I dress like an overgrown toddler most of the time, so I was excited to see what they had to offer, even if I couldn't buy anything (because, you know, I'm fat).
By the time we got to the main street, we were dying and sweaty so we pulled over into a blessedly air conditioned cafe and got some melon soda and ice cream with a little waffle square. We were literally dripping sweat, but we got a little cooled off before venturing out again.
There were so many stores with cute things. The big one was the Sanrio store. We got some things for Dan's kiddo and it was neat seeing an ENTIRE STORE filled with Hello Kitty and friends.
Mandy managed to find me a store with PLUS SIZE CLOTHES! I thought at best I would accessories (which, yes, I did) and maybe a stretchy oversized shirt. But NO. I had a number of things I wanted. I limited myself to an adorable skirt and then found a button up with cats dressed as BREAKFAST TOASTS.
We also found an entire store dedicated to rows upon rows of capsule machines. I was sorely tempted by so so many. But I restrained myself. And only got one at Sanrio.
We were absolutely exhausted at this point. So we headed back to the hotel and took some cold showers before going out for dinner. We had yakitori (grilled meat on sticks) and it was DELICIOUS. Such good yummy food.
Another stop at the convenience store that night got me my first (of many) egg-sando's. It's just a crustless egg sandwich and I love them so much. I could eat them forever.
Then it was bedtime because we were getting ready to spend the next day in DISNEYLAND TOKYO!
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