Day 9-19/12 Tokyo - Shinjuku, Teamlab

Traipsed down from our apartment at 12.30pm after the previous late night.  Ours was the top dark section accessed by a narrow steep staircase.  I'd say this place grew on me.  I like that it was so nondescript - felt that I could just live there and nobody would know there was a pretty-large (39m sq) dwelling upstairs.

Our home for 5 days

I initially didn't like that the nearest subway station was a small one and we had to change lines so frequently for destinations.  What the booking didn't mention was there were actually 2 other stations within 15mins walk which offered direct lines to some destinations.  Anyway, if we were to return to Tokyo, I would try out a different accommodation in a different place.  This was near Tokyo tower... which we didn't go since we weren't that interested and tickets were expensive.

Tokyo Tower

SE and me with new jackets

Hubby disappeared in Uniqlo on our way to the Shibuya giant 3D cat.  He was supposed to be waiting for the girls outside the toilet but when they came out, he wasn't there and we couldn't find him anywhere.  He wasn't picking up the phone.  My irritation turned to worry.  I asked a staff if he could check the male toilet.  What felt like an eternity later, hubby reappeared - apparently was trying out something in the changing room.  He then fiddled a while with the automated system paying for his new hat.  Grrr.  It was getting late.  We managed to find the 3D giant cat - couldn't take video/photo of it though.  SE spotted the Godzilla head which I wasn't even looking for haha.

Godzilla head behind us

We couldn't shop earlier in Osaka and Kyoto since that would have meant carrying purchases to the next city.  Now that we were already in Tokyo, it was time to shop!  Bought various things in Don Quijote (called Don Don Donki back home) - JE found the Smiski figures she was looking for back in Osaka,  I got snacks for my work team (was specifically instructed that I must do this haha) and we also got additional snacks.  Luckily JE carried these bags.  Hubby cannot carry much due to his impaired mobility and strength after his surgery 3 years ago.  SE was not far out of her anorexia days so I don't want her doing so much for now.  Me, was already the main beast of burden.

The Don Quijote penguin in various colours

It was later than my given time when we left Don Quijote.  It was past lunchtime but there was no time to eat - this from a family being extra careful with meals for SE's sake.  Why the rush... coz we had tickets to teamLab Borderless!  I contemplated taking a taxi but didn't know how to download Uber etc.  We rushed with trains.  Arrived and asked the staff whether we could have lunch first and enter later.  Eventually found out that our tickets was an hour later than I thought.  WHAT... hurried like crazy for nothing!  Important thing is we made it - didn't want to waste our almost RM400 tickets!  

At teamLab already

teamLab is touted as a 'world of artwork without boundaries'.  It's basically projection of digital art in various types of rooms - empty ones, or with props like a hill, giant cubes, glass globes, water vapour jets, plates etc.  There was music playing.  Definitely a cool experience!  Didn't have many good pictures as the place was overall dark.  

In the glass string room

Sliding down the hill in the biggest room

In the infinity room with mirrored walls and floor

In the glass globe room

We went for the artwork room partly for fun and partly to rest weary feet.  You choose a picture to colour and the finished one would be fed into the projection onto the walls in that room, joining the rest of the moving display.  We have done something like this back in Petrosains/Pusat Sains back home, just that this one had much better projection quality.

 

JE's jellyfish, hubby's squid, my jellyfish, SE's seahorse 

Do these move or not

I'd thought the artwork would be interactive, changing with our movements.  At the end I'm not convinced if they don't actually do that, or do that slowly.  We spent about 3 hours in teamLab - there were probably some rooms we didn't find.  It's purposely without a map so it would be 'borderless'.  Rating: Good.  It was interesting and fun, worth going at least once.

Only thing, it was 9pm and food outlets were already closed.  That night we bought dinner from a convenience store for the first time.  Actually... food wasn't too bad - onigiri, fried chicken, katsu chicken on rice, seafood cheese set - heated up in our apartment microwave.  So tired.  We had to pack though, our holiday was ending.