The trip was about an hour from the hotel by Metro with three different train changes, but given how easy the system had been to this point, I wasn’t worried. Of course this ended up being the one time where things got a little confusing, as the Tokyo system is actually run by two different companies, one city and one private, and this switched to the latter’s line at one point.

Which… was not as clearly spelled out in Google Maps, and in one of the stations I had no idea which path to take or platform to stand on since I think some were express and some were local. It was the first time on the trip that I was really worried, but thankfully I got lucky and picked the right train (!) or who knows where I would’ve ended up haha. Felt like an Amazing Race challenge. I was also very relieved, since we had returned our rail passes to Maho the night before, that the Japan Rail Suica card I had bought that morning worked for all of the trains I needed to take. I was really just guessing that I got the right thing.

I eventually made it to the neighborhood of Kyodo (not to be confused with Kyoto), which definitely had a different feel than the parts of Tokyo I’d been so far. From there it was a short <10 minute walk to the music store.

When I came in, the friendly store master Isao Shibazaki was expecting me, and eagerly showed me what he knew I was looking for. He was so enthusiastic about the instrument, immediately showing me how to tune (oddly musically complicated for three strings), how to hold the bachi which is the big putty-knife looking pick you use to pluck the strings, and then sitting me down with some sheet music.

Turns out that string tablature notation is universal, so I was able to play a song right on the spot, which I was not expecting. Fun!

I was having it shipped back to NYC, so he then showed me how the instrument comes apart and how to put it back together and string it (took video of all of that, there was no way I’d remember), then had me pick out the doukake which is the colorful arm guard piece that attaches to the side. I absolutely couldn’t decide and honestly still don’t know if I made the right choice haha – so many pretty options!

Moving from the music world to the art world, next on my agenda was a trip to TeamLab: Planets, which is an interactive, visually immersive experience that’s become a very popular tourist destination. TeamLab is an art collective with museums and exhibits all over the world, many in Asia, and they’re known for pushing the boundaries of art through the use of technology and natural elements. They call themselves “ultra-technologists,” as a group of artists, programmers, engineers, CG animators, mathematicians and architects.

This is one of those experiences that constantly sells out, so you need to book in advance, and I had originally booked with 🇺🇸Emma before the trip so we’d have someone to go with. With Emma getting Covid that week (still can’t believe that happened to her, the worst), her ticket was going to go to waste, so I’m glad she was able to give it to Mister and we’d be able to go together.

It took about an hour from the shamisen store to get to TeamLabs (which is a little out of the way of central Tokyo in the Koto City district), but I made it in time to meet Mister and relax a little before our entry time was called.

Once our time was called, we entered a big room for a briefing about the experience and about TeamLab, before moving from there into a massive locker room where we needed to lock up all of our belongings other than camera and phone.

This is also where we took our shoes off, as the whole experience needs to be done barefoot as there are a few places where you’re walking in water, some of it almost up to your knees!

Stepping into the space, TeamLab wows you right away as the entrance is first through a dark path with trippy blue lighting (this kind of wavy-lit path connected most of the rooms in the museum), then up a steep incline in a narrow hallway while water is rushing down over your feet. At the top of the “hill’ is a waterfall marking the official entrance.

There’s then a small transition room where they have little towels and benches to dry your feet before moving into the first installation, “Soft Black Hole.”

This one is a dark room where the floor is basically a giant soft beanbag, which constantly changes as the people around you walk over it. It was such an unusual feeling, as the floor is shifting around you as you try to walk, and it was definitely impossible to stay upright!

Not gonna lie, I was a little out of breath by the time I made it to the other side.

The next exhibit was really the first gasp-inducing one, and one of their more well-known works: The Infinite Crystal Universe.

As soon as you walk in, you can’t help but ooh and aah at the infinite feeling of the room. Thousands of LED light strings hang from the ceiling as ethereal music plays, while the color and patterns of the lights constantly change.

It looks cool in pictures and video, but it’s impossible to do it justice. But here’s some video I strung together:

Up next was the water piece that we’d heard so much about: Drawing on the Water Surface Created by the Dance of Koi and People.

We rolled up our pants and got ready, not really sure what to expect, but were greeted by wading into a giant room – made more giant by walls of mirror that made it seem as infinite as the crystals in the previous artwork. The water was lit in different colors, and we quickly noticed that there were colorful digital koi swimming all around us. It was nothing short of spectacular, and another one where the scale and feeling of immenseness could never be accurately captured on film.

Leaving the space was as surreal as entering it. I didn’t even realize how to get out at first, until I saw a door with a yellow glow, seemingly floating in space as it was cut into the mirrored wall.

The water continued down the hallway a bit until tapering off as the path became an incline. Then, there was another little foot drying area with towels before continuing on to the next installation.

The next artwork had the very succinct title, “Expanding Three-Dimensional Existence in Transforming Space - Flattening 3 Colors and 9 Blurred Colors, Free Floating.” It was a room full of giant inflatable balls that, when you hit one, changed the color of the room and also made a tone, creating a soothing soundscape.

TeamLab has a pretty detailed statement about the piece on their website, though it sounds like the balls used to be filled with helium, which has been removed because of a helium shortage.

The next room was not only my favorite at TeamLab, but one of my favorite experiences… ever. Entering the dark room, you’re immediately inside a giant domed screen, kind of like a globe IMAX, with mirrored floors that reflect the images overhead and all around you. Cascades of digital flowers float all around, encompassing the whole room, and even walking around with a lot of people it’s easy to feel like you are floating among them.

I am sharing some video I took (that could never possible capture the experience) just to give a sense of entering the room and what it felt like that day with all of the people around, but I’m also sharing below the official TeamLab video of the space as it actually comes close to evoking the feeling of weightlessness and awe that you feel in that exhibit.

Mister and I laid on our backs, looking up at the “sky,” and I think we must’ve stayed there for 20-30 minutes just taking it all in, losing sense of time and space, and engulfed in the absolute beauty of this art. Truly breathtaking, and like nothing I’ve ever experienced.

The Falling Universe of Flowers was the last exhibit in the “water” section of TeamLab planets, but we knew there was a “garden” path as well.

We made our way to the other side of the building and were held in a waiting area – a little different than the first several exhibits which are designed to walk through at your leisure. The waiting area itself was really cool, though: it featured TeamLab’s now signature mirrors, creating another illusion of infinity.

Once we were ushered into the exhibit, we wandered around in the hanging flowers – this time fully living, real orchids, not a digital creation, and we were understandably advised not to touch them. They had rigged the orchids on a hanging mechanism that slowly moved them up and down, which you don’t really notice at first. But it adds to the overall feeling of “alive” around you, and frankly it was all just really gorgeous.

This was a timed room, and after what seemed like only a few minutes, one of the TeamLab employees started corralling us out to make room for the next group of people.

After the Floating Garden, we headed back to the lockers to get our shoes and bags, still oohing and aching over everything we’d seen. From looking at their Instagram after the fact, I do think we actually missed a second garden room which was like an outdoor field of what looked like glowing alien eggs? Bummer, though I was happy to see that it wasn’t really ranking as people’s favorite.

Kappabashi-Dougu Street in the east part of Tokyo is a mecca for the local restaurant industry, as well as just-for-fun home cooks. There are dozens of stores selling everything from pots, knives, and chopsticks, to server uniforms, signage, and plastic display food. Really anything and everything a restaurant would need other than the food itself.

As someone who enjoys cooking I knew I wanted to make time to explore the area, and pick up a new chef’s knife as a souvenir since Japanese knives are notoriously high quality.

Arriving at the street, I walked relatively aimlessly at first, wandering into a few stores and just admiring the sheer volume of every possible item you could think of. Some stores were more user-friendly, organized and stocked the way you’d find any typical kitchen store, while some were floor-to-ceiling haphazardly stacked piles of plates, pans, and everything in between.

It was all overwhelming in the best way, and I’m glad I had limited suitcase room and an already well-stocked kitchen at home, because I could’ve been in trouble.

As I was walking, there were so many knife stores. I was starting to get overwhelmed by the choices, so I stopped to Google the best place to buy knives on this street, and one of the stores that came up at the top of the list was called Kama-Asa.

I happened to be standing right in front of a store called Kamata, which I think I instinctually knew was not the same place haha, but figured I was there and it looked nice, so I went in. The knife selection there was truly overwhelming and I wasn’t looking for anything in particular, other than an all-purpose chef’s knife that was a different size than my go-to knife, so ended up picking one that checked the right culinary boxes that I simply thought was pretty. I had heard that the stores on Kappabashi Street will engrave knives so decided to get my name in Japanese as a nice souvenir.

The man who was helping me asked for my name and translated it (phonetically) into Japanese to have engraved. They engrave right on the spot while you wait, and it took less than five minutes!

Happy with my knife, I of course walked two minutes down the street and ran into… Kama-Asa, the actual store that was in that Google list.

When I went in, though, it wasn’t knives at all but two floors of other pots and pans and accessories. It was definitely the most stylish store I had seen on the street, really beautifully curated and stocked, and I spent a while wandering the aisles.

I came thisclose to getting a little cast iron tureen with this pretty, Japanese-looking wooden lid, but decided that lugging cast iron back to the States was not the smartest idea, so as a consolation decided to get a pair of needle-nose food tweezers, something I didn’t have and that immediately reminds me of the delicate, tiny precision of a lot of Japanese food.

By the time I made it back to the hotel I was pretty exhausted and the other people from our trip had either left Japan or had other plans, so I decided to just stay in the hotel and have a nice leisurely, quiet dinner in the restaurant downstairs.

It ended up being an excellent (very American) meal, though I was literally the only person in the restaurant!

Called it an early night and I think I was asleep before my head hit the pillow.