out there just doing the most

with just one full day left on our fabulous trip to asia, we actually got to sleep in a little before packing our bags and heading out for our last planned activity to enjoy together.  

i’d really gotten used to wearing actual pajamas to bed rather than my usual random t-shirt and shorts combo.

this was the view from our room:

after getting our bags packed and dropped off at the bell desk, we headed on outside to get started with our day.  i’d chosen this hotel specifically for its proximity to not only a train station but also to teamlab planets, the second of their two digital art museums in the tokyo area.

i’d avoided looking at blog posts and other spoilers online, but i did know that planets was going to be a different experience from borderless, which we’d visited earlier in our trip.  and i knew we were in for an interesting time when we got there and were instructed to leave all of our belongings and footwear in a locker before beginning our journey.

we followed the signs and found ourselves in this hallway:

and then we were walking through water, which actually felt really lovely.  before proceeding to the next part, we stopped to grab a towel and dry our feet.

from there, we found ourselves in the “infinite crystal universe,” a room filled with interactive twinkling light sculptures.  it was sparkly and pretty and the colors would change with the music, and we loved it.

the next room was another water experience, where we found ourselves wading through water that was almost knee-high.  it was filled with interactive digital koi, and it was so pretty and realistic.  the fish would swim around you, and when they bumped into people they would turn into flowers that would scatter all over the water.  

 

tucked away in a corner of the room was the entrance to what they called “ephemeral solidified light,” where light and water created another interactive art experience that kept us entertained for a good long while (or, at least until other people discovered it too).

we had fun with the giant inflated spheres in the next room, and like in the infinite crystal universe, the room would transform with lights and music.  there were lots of photo shoots happening here, which was pretty amusing to watch.

we spent a good long time in the falling universe of flowers.  it was a huge room with high ceilings and mirrored floors, and you were invited to sit or lay down on the floor to watch the animated flowers bloom and change and scatter and dance.  it was mesmerizing and we could have spent hours in there.

as we made our way outside, we came upon the “moss garden of resonating microcosms.” haha, say that five times fast.  anyway, we didn’t know it at the time but as it turns out this is also an interactive experience where you could touch the ovoids - pushing them down would make them release light and sound.  i’m kind of bummed now that we didn’t get to try that out, but no one else seemed to know either.

the piece de resistance was the floating flower garden.  here they’d created a space where hundreds of orchids were growing from above, and they would move up and down slowly to create spaces for people to walk through and around them, giving you the opportunity to look at the flowers from all angles (and they’d look back at you).  small groups of visitors would be allowed to enter together, spend a few minutes inside and then leave the space to let the next group in.  it was beautiful and it smelled so good in there.

and that was the end of our visit to teamlab planets.  we went back to the lockers to grab our bags and shoes and then sat down in the public area to plot our next move.

we found this little snack kiosk on the sidewalk as we exited the venue, and i recognized it from an instagram post i’d saved awhile ago.  you could play rock paper scissors with the attendant to try and get a discount on your snack (or leave them a tip if you lost).

since it was our last chance, we decided to hop on a train and go back to harajuku to revisit takeshita street.  i would’ve loved to have a copy of this poster that i saw in the station:

when we got off the train and caught a glimpse of that dog cafe we’d seen the last time, we took it as a sign that the dogs needed us to come up and give them some love.  we had plenty of time to play, and it was fun to be able to just do whatever we wanted with no schedule to stick to.

we spent a good amount of time in there, giving the dogs lots of love and treats (which also made us miss our own dogs so so so much).  when we finally tore ourselves away, we went back down to the street where the bean decided it was time for a snack.

it was pretty warm and toasty that day, and i was happy to whip out my souvenir from the dog cafe to help me cool off a little.

just down the street we found an outlet of that delicious boba shop we’d discovered in new york last winter.

we were in full tourist mode that day.  after finishing off that boba we walked a little further and came across a guy standing at the bottom of a staircase who was cuddling an otter.  and so…

snack time again!  this time, we shared a rainbow cheese coin.

we got one more look at this cool-looking rooftop garden before hopping into an uber to take us to our last dinner reservation.

look at how their gas stations are set up here!  

so, yeah.  i’m very VERY easily influenced by instagram.  and even though i don’t even really like hot pot, i couldn’t resist the chance to come to kumachan onsen, also known as the viral teddy bear hot pot spot.

honestly, i couldn’t even really tell you what we ate here.  i took pictures of the menu though:

and then they fired up that hot plate and brought you the main event - a bowl with your chosen flavor of broth and a teddy bear made of collagen jelly.  i mean…how cute is this?

here’s thirty seconds of my little bear slowly dissolving into the broth.  a little morbid, a bit weird, but still a whole lotta cute.

i couldn’t get enough of him.

downstairs there was an equally cute little coffee shop.  we stopped long enough to check out the merch and for the bean to try their luck at the gachapon machine.

we still had some time to play, so we headed back to shibuya one last time.

we spent our last handful of coins at the capsule shop:

i swear, a lot of the prizes in these machines are so dang weird.

luck was not really on the bean’s side this time around. but then i spotted a machine that was filled with beef and cheese sticks (i said what i said) and when they jokingly dropped in their last coins and gave it a shot - well, these pictures tell the story.

we’d tried and failed to shop at the loft store before, but this time we finally got our timing right.  although it was getting late and by the time we got there, we had less than an hour to browse as much as we could.  

i didn’t even take any pictures inside because we were trying to look at as many floors as we could, and we ended up picking up some fun final souvenirs - chopstick rests, skincare, cooling products, and a really cool wooden wine goblet for the hub.  and then we hopped into an uber that took us back to the hotel so that we could pick up our luggage and make our way back to the airport, where we’d reserved our last night at the hotel attached to the terminal that we’d depart from the next day.

check-in was easy breezy, and our room was really nice.

so, ummm…yes.  we’d arrived with two suitcases, and were leaving with FOUR. oops. i was really hoping the hub wouldn’t blow a gasket when he saw it all.

believe it or not, we were hungry again.  and so we decided to head back out into the terminal to see what there was to see.  we were really amused to find one more (very small) donki for those last-minute traveling needs:

and there was a really cool observation deck outside to watch planes take off and land.

i never did get my chance to have some real yoshinoya while we were in japan, but the opportunity presented itself as we walked through the shops in the terminal.

we took our goodies back to our room, where we enjoyed it while giggling at the commercials on tv.  and then it was time for one last set of hotel pajamas before falling into bed.

one more sleep, and then we’d finally be reunited with the hub and the doggies!