We woke up at around 4 am to what Chris thought was me having a nightmare and screaming. Unfortunately that wasn't the case, but my knee had popped out in the night from some sort of contact in our "large twin" bed. Luckily I was able to talk him through putting it back in with me. It was his first time seeing it happen! Now he has his own trauma surrounding my stupid knees. I have my own, and I cried myself back to sleep in the fetal position trying not to think about it.
Waking up around 7:30, I was hoping that our itinerary could still happen as we had so much planned for our last full day in Tokyo. As I showered and got ready I felt ok, and thought that if it hurt through the day, I'd deal with it later. On we go!
After a coffee we made our way to Asakusa, where we stumbled upon one of the giant Donki stores outside of the train station. We accidently spent an hour shopping around here which was really fun. We got some souvenirs and household things to take home like a 3D Godzilla puzzle for Ryder and Tenugui napkins and cute themed socks. One thing I did not enjoy was the two huge eels in the tiny aquarium outside. Major sad.
We left Don Quijote for UNIQLO across the street. Apparently I hadn't done enough shopping! I was thrilled with a couple of new items I found there. We were in full on "our time is almost done in Japan so buy everything!" mode.
From here we decided to get back to the plan and head towards Senso-ji Temple, ahead of which is Nakamise-dori shopping streets. Here we found a few last minute souvenirs and Hatoya's Vegan Fruit Sandwiches, something on my list! These were soft, the cream was thick and not very sweet, and the fruit was ripe. They were small but divine. I made a note to myself to experiment when I get home and figure out how they get this cream so thick and dense!!
Wandering up the Nakamise-dori we got to Senso-Ji Temple. Very busy, crowded with tourists, but I still enjoyed the architecture, the smell of the incense, and the giant lantern in the doorway.
We made our way out of the temple area and toward lunch, and on the way was Kappabashi street - a long shopping street dedicated to kitchenware including chef-quality knives. We had been making a list of gear we'd seen being used in all of the ramen shops, both in the kitchens and for us guests, and so we were hoping to pick it all up here. We wandered in and out of a few really high end shops with beautiful kitchenware. I got a ceramic filter I'd been thinking about since we saw it in Kyoto - it's used for water, tea, coffee, and alcohol filtering. I thought it'd be a nice upgrade to my cheesecloth at home. I also found some nice, long cooking chopsticks.
The main thing we wanted to find was the cylindrical noodle strainer we saw everyone using; we thought this would be a great souvenir! We walked in and out of a few stores before finding the holy grail - this seemingly commercial kitchen supply store. Here we found it all - the basket, cooking chopsticks, multiple types of ramen spoons, and so much more. The owner/salesman was so helpful in helping us find anything I asked for, whether it was on his floor or hidden high up in an obsure box I never would have opened myself. I ended up finding the long bar spoons I'd been hoping for here as well. It was epic and cheap and we were thrilled with our finds! We thanked him with a dino!
Continuing down this street Chris was getting hungry but I was in heaven walking in and out of all of these stores. I found a pottery store that had so many beautiful things. I walked out with a cream coloured, partly matte partly glazed sake shot glass, my new favourite coffee cup, and a little 3 compartment dip plate. If I could I would have bought every sushi plate I wanted in there, the prices were great and it was all so unique!
Chris eventually pulled me away from shopping and we walked another 15 minutes to lunch, a little vegan gyoza restaurant in a residentail neighbourhood in Ueno. We arrived and were seated and it seemed they were quite busy so we had our time with the menu. The choices were either to order gyozas by the piece or order the set menu of 12 gyozas, each with a unique filling, for 2500 yen (around $25). This seemed a little steep for lunch, especially it being just gyoza, but we each went for it as this was one of the top places I'd wanted to eat at. We ordered drinks as well. I got a fruited sour beer which was boldly fruity and refreshing. Chris ordered an iced caramel matcha latte and it was HEAVEN. It was not too sweet but the caramel nicely offset the bitter matcha and was served with this same vegan thick cream on top that we'd been seeing. Epic. I had a few sips of his.
After a while came our gyozas, along with a little legend, much like you'd get with a box of chocolates. Each piece was huge, and stuffed with it's unique flavour and a type of soy meat. They were incredible. We started with the ones we thought we might like the least, and of course surprised ourselves with our favourites like kimchi, eggplant miso, celery, green pepper, and chinese chives. Our combined favourite was the garlic miso. An unforgettable meal we'll never forget! Oh, and we were stuffed by the end!
I ordered a sparkling sake which was semi-dry, it was delicious and paired so well with the gyoza. I'd love to find this back at home.
After lunch we stumbled home, but not before checking out another UNIQLO and Chris got some shopping in that he too had passed on then day before.
For tonight we had booked the other Teamlabs - Teamlabs Planets, which is the older one, a little further away down in the Koto City area. Luckily they also have an all-vegan ramen restaurant on site, so we opted to go a little early and try the ramen. So did everyone else attending Teamlabs that night! So we had a little wait. It was funny listening to the other museum goers order their vegan ramen; clearly a lot of omnivores were eating vegan that day. The ramen was super creamy and saucy, with some veggies and a garlic oil on top. Delicious, and one of our faves from the trip.
We entered into the exhibit fairly quickly after our entry time slot, and were instructed to take off our shoes and lock them up as we were to be shoe and sock-less for the the exhibit. I wanted to use the washroom, and was icked at the thought of doing this sans shoes, but of course there were slippers to use!
This Team Labs was already feeling different as you had to follow a set path. We entered and walked up a sort of inclined river, and we assumed this was what cleaned your feet. Next room was kind of like a bouncy, quicksand via pillows room. It was a little strange and quick, and I focused on not hurting my knee the whole time. The next section was similar to one of the rooms at the other Teamlabs with the hanging rain crystals and mirrored floors. We both noted how clean and smudge-free the mirrored floors were despite everyone being shoeless. It would have been just as magical as our first experience if there wasn't a staff member yelling (actually yelling), "This is the entrance, keep walking, don't stop moving keep walking." It made it so awkard and totally took away the awe factor.
Next we went into a room with water up to our knees, and there were fish swimming around in it via light! I was glad I had pockets for my phone. This was pretty cool, but the magic was once again taken away by all of the museum goers using flash on their phones to take photos and videos. I didn't see this one time in the other Team Labs (maybe I just didn't notice?). But here it was a part of the first instructions we got, and multiple times in this room and others people were using their flash. It really took you out of the experience unfortunately.
Next we went into a room where you're supposed to sit or lay down in the middle of the room and experience flowers raining down on you and the room feels like it's spinning, but in a non-motion-sickness-inducing way. It only worked when there was nobody at the edges of the room, but of course some people were not paying attention to the instructions. It seemed really crowded, as opposed to our other experience when we were the first to enter in the morning. From here, we were back in the locker room! Is it over? No, there's a sign telling you to make sure you see the garden exibition.
So we headed that way and into a room where we checked out a pair of sandles to go outside and view these huge lit up eggs that glowed differently if you tipped them. It was very small and very quick, and about 2 minutes later we were taking our shoes off again. Seemed like a lot of effort for such little payoff.
Next we went into a room with a living floral ceiling. You were corralled into the room, yelled at to stand at the wall, told this was timed and as soon as the time was up you'd be asked to leave. As we lined up against the wall we saw the group ahead laying down in the exhibit, trying to take their photos, and then it lifted and they were yelled at via megaphone to exit. So, so not zen, as I'm sure the exhibit was intended to be. We took our turn; it was akward because they ask you not to touch the flowers, but as you enter the flowers are only maybe 2 feet high, so even doing our best to crawl (which also was said to not be allowed) our backs still touched them? I don't know about this. I had a hard time following the rules and that's saying a lot about those rules being unattainable!!
And that was it! We were back in the locker room and looking around for more. After deciding that we saw it all, we got our things and checked our watches. 50 minutes from start to finish, and with traffic. Yikes! This was no where near the experience of the other Teamlabs. I could see now why the reviews were so mixed. Had we not been to the other one, maybe we would have enjoyed this more? In the end it was still neat but we would not do it again.
We headed back to the train and decided to stop for falafels at one of the more highly recommended places for vegans in Japan. After finding our way there the service was not great and the falafel, even worse! Maybe just an off day. The waffle fries were good and we enjoyed the atmosphere being in a sort of al fresco dining mall in what felt like a financial district. We ate half our falfel and headed home.
After a good sleep (with me in the fetal position, protecting my knees all night) we got ready and packed up our things to check out. I was hoping to still have a half day in Tokyo before we flew out at 3:30. We left our bags in the lobby and headed towards a vegan coffee and breakfast shop, Komeda Is. Again a spot I had pinned for some unique-to-Japan food items like their pancakes and their katsu sandwiches. Chris wasn't feeling great, but I still ordered for two and happily ate more than my share of our breakfast. I ordered him a cold brew with soft serve on top (this has to be a thing in Canada!) and I got an espresso with whipped cream. Our breakfast was pancakes, fruit and whipped cream (I can't get enough!), the fried katsu sandwich, and tofu nuggets with fries. All was delicious and a great way to end the trip.
We shopped across the street at a Natural Lawson and got some pharmaceuticals to take home like eye drops and injury numbing patches and I grabbed some teas too. When we walked out of the conbini, I found myself emotional. I didn't want to go home! I wasn't ready for this epic trip to end.
We headed back to the hotel via train. On the way we stopped for a final matcha and it was some of the best of the trip. I got a latte, and Chris an iced latte. I handed out our final three dinos to the three baristas and they loved them, smiling and waving in thanks. As we left, I found myself crying in the street looking around at this neighbourhood and not ready to go home.
We grabbed our luggage and headed for the station. One quick train trip then we stopped at Ueno station to get Skyliner tickets. I waited in line to get them while Chris waited with our luggage, and when I approached the window, again came the waterworks! As I asked for two tickets to the airport, tears came down my cheeks and I said to the station worker, "I don't want to go home!" He said, "You can come back again." True, I said. And I will!
Chris gave me a hug and we found our platform. Our train was already approaching and we got settled in as the rest of the riders did too. I looked out the window and said goodbye to Japan as we rode for 45 minutes to Haneda Aiport.
Our check-in was easy and our lineup went fairly quickly. I had to see a human to check in both ways as my passport number is different than when I booked our trip. A lady checked us in and a man behind her handled our luggage with such care. "This is the last time someone will ever be kind to our luggage," we said to each other.
We were very early for our flight and so we went to shop a little in the airport mall. Chris was antsy to get through security, so we did that, with zero queue this took literally 3 minutes. We found our gate and did a little last minute duty free shopping. I got another keychain and some sakura gin. Chris wanted some food but there was a lineup for everything, including the tiny 7/11 conbini! They were selling snacks and cans of beer and highballs that you could grab for WHILE YOU WAITED AT YOUR GATE. Japan is just BETTER. Instead of waiting for 7/11, Chris got his last 2 vegan donuts from Starbucks.
Our flight was just 8h45 minutes and I resisted the urge to sleep at first. They had T's vegan ramen noodles, so I grabbed one of those and two drinks and some pringles and indulged before my vacation was officially over. Chris fell asleep right away and me shortly after my meal. Luckily we slept for quite a bit of the flight and woke up with an hour to go. Easy!
Once we landed we were out of the airport in 20 minutes, that has to be a record. As we loaded our compass cards and went to get on the approaching skytrain, some 20-something guy with airpods in barges his way on to the empty skytrain ahead of the 3 people who needed to get off. I turned to Chris in absolute disgust; this would never happen in Japan. Even in the busiest of communting hours there would be a perfectly formed lineup to get on, and everyone who was exiting the train would get off before anyone got on. It was beautifully respectful.
At the ferry terminal we got coffees and waited over an hour for our 11am ferry while we watched and heard the room fill with people. Loud, large people who had no regard for their waiting neighbours. I turned to Chris and said, "I hate it here." It was so shocking to be around such loud people. This room would be silent with respect in Japan.
Our ferry was packed and we enjoyed the sunny windows during the ride. We got a ride to our car by Kara's dad, and then Chris switched me out to drive home as we could both feel me nodding off. At home, we resisted the urge to sleep and I kept myself busy by putting away our new things, doing laundry, and reorganizing our kitchen to include our new ramen tools, chopsticks, and coffee setup. We went to bed at 9:30 ish and I seriously think we beat jet lag.
Home now, writing this blog, I'm sad but grateful. This was a bucket list trip that we made the most of. Japan has the best food, sights, culture, and transit system I've seen in a while. Plus the nicest people! We'll be back, sooner than later.
This featured blog entry was written by kmcveggie from the blog Veggie Pack.
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