Saturday, June 22, 2019

Summer 2019 Osaka/Tokyo Family Trip: Day 7- Tokyo Odaiba

Well, we are now back in Hawaii after a long vacation!  I'm still catching up on posts, so please bear with me.  Judging from all the photos we took in Odaiba, this will be a long post (but it will be worth it!)!

So Day 7 takes us to Odaiba.  The first time we went to Odaiba, we thought it was just a lot of malls, and never really went back until our last trip.  Team Lab keeps bringing us back to this area now they have a permanent home for their Borderless exhibit.  We almost booked the Team Lab Planets, but decided to go with the original for the fam.  If you are headed to Tokyo, this is a must see.

My mom actually told me that morning that she wasn't going to go with us and that she would just go explore the area herself.  She also commented that it was a "kiddie" area, so she wasn't interested.  I told her she should go cause it wasn't just for kids and that we had already bought her a ticket.  She was so happy she went!

So if you read my last post about Team Lab, you'll know that we went to Team Planets by mistake... Team Lab Borderless is by the ferris wheel (in case you get them confused like we did last time).



The line was super duper long even though we came just after it opened.  It went down the stairs for the length of the building, and onto the sidewalk... We debated on if we should come back later or brave the line.  So glad we decided to stay cause the line moved very quickly.  Paul said that there was a couple near us that gave up... too bad they were impatient!



I guess I had a bad angle... missing the "b" in Team Lab.



I love their slogan... You don't get a map of each room, and no guided tour, so it truly is to wander, explore and discover!



Since it was pretty crowded, we decided to head to the top floor and work our way down.  They kids wanted to color up their images right off the bat, so we stopped at the athletic forest to do so.  Here's Akemi's one.  She's definitely missing our dog.


After we found each kid's image, we explored more areas.  This is the big balloon room.  It changes colors periodically.




One of our favorite areas was the sea creatures room where you could color up the images and they come to life.


My sister's is the cutest jelly!!



Even Grandma made one!

After all that fun, we decided we needed a break and headed to the tea room.  This continues to be a favorite of ours!  You really need to experience this in person cause photos don't do it justice.  I am pretty sure the flowers were different this time and we also ordered green tea ice cream that generated ivy wherever you placed it.  My mind is still boggled as to how all of this works.



We finally made it downstairs and happened upon the waterfall room.  The projections were different this time, so I think even if you've gone before you'll have a different experience if you go again.


This is where Paul slid (fell) down the waterfall and got scoldings. LOL!


This time they featured wisteria!!


Aaaaah, the lantern room.  We never made it last time since we ran out of time, so this time it was on the top of our to do list.  Note, there is ALWAYS a line for this area because they limit the number of people at a time and you have only so much time to explore.  Its worth it..


The colors keep changing.



My favorite photo...



Then we headed to the crystal jewel room, which is also fascinating!



Some of the exhibits were interactive... when you touch them, they react!




After getting lost a few times, we made it to the main room, where Paul started working on his "social media influencer" career.  LOL!


After a 4 hours, we finally decided to leave and looked for some lunch in the mall.  After we refueled, we did a bit more sight seeing in the area...


We decided to walk to the next area... and found a lot of hydrangeas!


Its Unicorn Gundam!!




We hurried through the mall to get to the next area...  I saw the Trick Art Museum on YouTube, so we thought it would be fun for the kids to check it out...  But we needed some instruction so we had to get oriented before exploring.  We started to get the hang of it...



It was super fun!
















It was about $10 to get in, but I think it was worth it!  We sure had fun in Odaiba!  So much more to share, so stay tuned!

Thursday, June 20, 2019

Summer 2019 Osaka/Tokyo Family Trip: Day 6- Tokyo Harajuku

Cranking them out now!  Let's see how many posts I can do while on the way to Osaka... This is my 3rd.

After checking our tentative itinerary and doing a little research, we saw that some stalls don't open in Tsukiji on Sundays, so we decided to rearrange our schedule and head to Harajuku instead.  I had a feeling a lot of time would be needed in Harajuku since the girls have never been before and Takeshita Dori caters to their age bracket.

 

 Takeshita Dori has become all about the snacks for me!  Here's one of my favorite snacks...


Calbee french fries and Hokkaido Butter chips!!





Now I needed something sweet... We picked Zaku Zaku pastries.  So good!


Then it was time for a sit down break.  I asked Mom if she wanted to go to the Pompompurin cafe and everyone else decided to tag along.


One of these things is not like the other...



Yes, I do not look or act like my family.... Maybe mom really did find me in the rubbish can?

Meanwhile.. we realized that these three could be triplets...



Finally got inside!










Except Paul... who went next door and had a beer.


Paul, Akemi, and H went to the Shiba cafe across the way.




Akemi got some doggie time in.






After we made it through Takeshita Dori, we headed to the Line store.


Fancy meeting some Hilo peeps there!!!  I had also seen another co-worker at the Calbee store earlier.  Funny how we gotta go to Tokyo to meet up!



After Harajuku, we headed to Ginza for the taiko concert.  Darren them went shopping while we had lunch before our concert. 


Yummy korean stone pot was on the menu.



Mom's stone pot was bomb. I need to get me some of those.



Concert time!  I must say that this was probably the most enjoyable professional concert I've seen.  They had a lot of other stuff going on besides the drumming that was very entertaining!   I would definitely go to another of their concerts if given a chance.  I'm sure others would disagree, but it was just plain fun!


These guys are rockstars!!






 After the concert, we headed to Tokyo Station to let the girls explore character street while we headed to a sake bar.  I've never been to a sake bar before and to be honest, I'm more of a beer girl, so this was foreign to me.

The bartender must have been an expert.  He showed us this chart and told us to pick out our preferences.  My brother the wine drinker chose "profound" and something else but we couldn't remember.  I chose "soda like" and "easy to drink", while Paul chose "well-balanced" and "balanced".




Here's where they keep all the sake..


And here's what he chose for us... Mine is in the middle.




Akemi was tired of shopping, so she asked if she could come with us... and no, she is not drinking sake.  She had a soda.  But she said the yakitori was bomb.




More Yakitori!  The chicken meatball was bomb too.



So, Darren thought this bottle was nice.  So we asked the bartender about it and he said it was strong!


Round 2


Paul ordered a shot, or tasting, or whatever you call it...  He ordered that lion one and the guy kind of laughed under his breath.


I told everyone I know he was thinking we couldn't handle it.  Then I started cracking up!  So much that I started to cry.  LOL!


No, I'm not drunk emotional...



 Here it is!


Kanpai!


 I made everyone take a picture...



 After our sake break, we wanted real food.  We saw a katsu place and ate there with mom. It was super bomb!



Paul saved some rice for later...  LOL!


Wow!  I didn't realize we had done so much on the first day in Tokyo!  That was super fun... especially the concert and sake tasting!