Hello all for the final time from Japan,
We checked out this morning, left our luggage at reception and stopped quickly at the Hachiko statue before catching
the metro to Teamlab Borderless, a digital art museum. This was
something else we were meant to do in March 2020 on our original trip. I
can still remember getting the email in February 2020 that they were
closing due to Covid and feeling like our trip was starting to unravel.
Anyway, it shut at that location in August 2022 due to redevelopment of
the building it was in, and reopened earlier this year at a new
location.
We spent a fantastic three hours here. There is no map, the idea of
“borderless” is you are meant to wander around and discover different
rooms and displays. After an hour or so we kept finding the same rooms
and felt we were going in circles, so I found a map online someone had
drawn by hand that helped us find the last four or so rooms we hadn’t
seen which was great. All of the displays were so great we didn’t want
to miss any. There were displays of flowers, birds, all different
colours and much more. Each room even smelled different like what was
being projected eg flowers. In the main room with the ‘hill’, the birds
and flowers even flew or blossomed where people were leaning on the
wall. So clever! I think my favourite room was the one with
balls/lanterns hanging from the roof that changed colour. They made me
feel like I was in the Hall of Prophecies in Harry Potter.
One totally unexpected part was the tearoom way down the end of the
hallways inside. We had a seat and bought some matcha coconut ice cream
and a cold tea each. Somehow, once you placed your teacup and ice cream
bowl on the counter in front of you, flowers and leaves immediately
started blooming, and butterflies flying. When you took a sip/lifted
your cup, the petals of the flowers would scatter and fly. Then when you
placed it back down another flower would bloom. It was like magic!
We headed out at about 1pm and the queue was huge, and we once again
appreciated having booked a morning time slot as it hadn’t been too busy
despite booking out 1-2 weeks in advance. We then walked to lunch, and
en route could see the red and white Tokyo Tower in the distance. It was
built for the 1964 Olympic Games as a TV tower, and at the time was the
tallest building in the city. These days it’s dwarfed by many others
around it, but it was still impressive.
We had a delicious lunch at a place called Burger Revolution which we
had intended to eat at in Osaka, but the one there had had weird opening
hours. They serve burgers made of the famous Kobe beef, so we partook.
All of us really enjoyed our burger and chips. The meat was delicious
and not rich.
We caught the bus back to the hotel and rested a little before heading
off to the airport via the JR line and airport train. Prior to arriving
at Shibuya station we had had a fantastic day, and I wish I could say it
continued. But we were once again hit by the “train station aggression”
that we had experienced two days prior. Dad was carrying mine and his
cases up a flight of stairs, and a lady was so absorbed in her phone
that she walked into one of our cases as she wasn’t looking. Everyone
kept walking with the flow of the crowd. I didn’t even notice she had
walked into it as I was holding my belly and concentrating on where to
step on each stair. For some reason, she cut across me, and shoved me
hard in the side. I have no idea how she thought I was involved or why
it was anyone but her fault. I lost my balance for a moment and I think I
only regained it because I had both hands free. So I pushed her lightly
on the shoulder and told her to get away from me, how dare you touch me
etc. I was in such a shock as I had no idea what was going on. She
started screaming at us even once up on the platform. It was the kind of
thing that just sends you into shock and doesn’t make any sense. I
actually felt really scared as with volatile people like that you just
don’t know what they’ll do next. We got on the train and away from her
thankfully and we were off. I was sorry that that was our final
experience of Japan right before heading to the airport.
So to finalise I will say - we’ve seen and done some great things here.
We’ve been lucky with the weather. The food has been delicious, and
outside of the big busy parts of cities we have had a wonderful time.
But if I was to ever come back (incidents such as the above have put me
well off!) I would avoid Shibuya like the plague and maybe even skip
Tokyo all together. Contrary to the reputation of respect and kindness
we hear of at home, many people we came across in Shibuya etc in Tokyo
are so absorbed in their phones and with making their train that they’ll
literally mow people down for their own benefit. Luckily outside of
areas like this though, people have been really accommodating, friendly
and helpful. I think Kyoto, Koyasan and Hiroshima were my favourite
places. I need to focus on the fact that 95% of the people we came
across were great.
On another positive note, I’m really proud of how my body held up on
this trip. This was the most walking I have done since I had my hip
surgery done in June last year. I kept getting Facebook memories on this
trip of my Paris/London trip two years ago, and over there unless I
took three doses of painkillers and ibuprofen per day I was in
excruciating pain that even brought me to tears at times. While I’ve
felt uncomfortable and tired at times, I’ve been able to participate in
just about everything I wanted to. Taking breaks, having great public
transport available and having Mum and Dad help me carry my suitcase
onto and off of trains has really helped too. I’ve really surprised
myself at now 28 weeks pregnant. I guess it’s different to work though
as we got to be on our schedule, choosing what we felt like doing each
day and taking breaks when we needed them.
So I’m signing off for the last time in a little while. Next time I’m
overseas I’ll have a child which despite feeling them kick me a lot
these days feels absolutely wild! I’m excited for the new challenge, and
I hope Rob and I can take them on some adventures with us before too
long.
Love to all
Claire
Xoxox
PS: Mum and I are watching Collingwood vs Geelong online at the moment, but we will board before the game is over. Go pies!
