A feast for the senses

After more than 22,000 steps on 3.5 hours sleep the day before, we had a good night's sleep and were ready for our first full day in Tokyo, even though we felt like we had already seen so much!  

Sunflowers

With a 7-11 store directly under our hotel, we were familiar with the expected breakfast routine. No need for hotel breakfasts here - we are happy with the treats and delights you can get from the convenience stores (be it 7-11, FamilyMart or Lawson) to bring back to the room. Willow often loves her some fried chicken of course - this morning I enjoyed an egg sando: creamy egg in between fluffy crustless white bread - yum!

We were really excited about going back to see Borderless by the TeamLab crew that we saw back in 2019. It actually closed for several years as they got kicked out of their venue, but it has just only recently reopened in February in a brand new venue within walking distance from our hotel - lucky us! 

A little bit taller this time around

  Now in the new fancy Azabudai Hills complex which is full of  designer shops and Parisien-style gourmet stores and cafes, it's quite the contrast seeing the wealthy and well-dressed locals in amongst the throngs of tourists making their way to Borderless which is booked out well in advance every day.  

  Our tickets were booked for 11:30am so we needed a second breakfast to make sure we all had contented tummies for the couple of hours we would be in there for. So in this new fancy complex, I hate to say it, but sometimes you just need something that is quick and convenient and something that your picky 7 year old daughter will eat, so Starbucks it was! To be honest it wasn't that bad...

Appetites satiated we entered Borderless quickly and 

This was a new one!

watched a little video about how the exhibition is a series of many rooms, some large, some small, some hidden, but each ever-changing while we are there, and so the aim is to literally keep walking around and to get lost amongst the "borderless' displays. As they describe it: Artworks move out of rooms, relate to other works, influence each other, and at times intermingle, without boundaries. Through this group of works, one continuous world without boundaries is created.

But hey, this is our same-cation so we already knew all this.

We entered into a corridor with flowers sweeping across the walls set to a background ambient cinematic soundtrack. It even smelled like flowers in there! 

So we spent the next two hours wandering around. Some of it was familiar but there were so many new works and installations too. It is impossible to capture it on camera - we have a tonne of videos - but it really is truly amazing.  

Lilypads

Willow was definitely taller this time!

Flying carp on Tokyo Tower

 

  Afterwards we wandered over to the nearby Tokyo Tower, an orange and white Eiffel tower-looking communications and observation tower. You can go up it but we wanted to go and see the 333 carp streamers that are currently flying underneath. They hang them every spring for Children's Day, and there are 333 to represent the height of the tower. Pretty cool, and it was nice to have a sit-down!

We then got the subway back over to Roppongi but it was a bit of an awkward time to have our third meal of a day - many kitchens close in between 2-5pm - and we weren't super hungry so we walked back to the hotel and had some convenience snacks in the room while we rested :)

It wasn't long before we were heading back to Roppongi, to the 52nd floor of the Roppongi Hills Mori Tower, called Tokyo City View, for some sunset views, just like last time of course 😂 

We bought our tickets in advance but it wasn't crowded at all - surprising considering it was a beautiful sunny Friday evening - but no complaints!

And what a stunning view it was, again, over the 

sprawling metropolis that is Tokyo. We couldn't see

Mount Fuji this time as there was a bit of smog 

about but the sunset was beautiful all the same.

Sunset views up high are my favourite

Bye sun

Once the sun had set we went in search of dinner. Ryan had looked up a nearby place which served omurice which is not my favourite but Ryan lured me in with promises of sashimi also being on the menu. When we got there though, hilariously, there were two sides of the restaurant - one "Western" and one "Japanese", and the omurice meant we had to go to the Western side haha. 

The truth was we were the only white gaijin in either side, and since we were ordering by the phone app I could have had some sashimi but I did the omurice anyway. It was fine. The staff were lovely and friendly, and Willow had a little mixed snack plate with a tiny little ball of strawberry ice cream for dessert so she was happy. We all were! So we again wandered back home, after another 20,000 steps, for a good night's rest!

Omurice

Willow loved her mixed plate