Minato + Teamlabs, Mori Art Gallery, & Gen Yamamoto
Step Count: 22,048 Km’s: 15.98
10.05.2024 - 10.05.2024 24 °C
Up around 6am this morning we decided to grab Starbucks again for a quick and easy bite. On the way we saw remnants of the night before - Friday. Cigarette lined sidewalks and empty cans, plus a sidewalk pancake (vomit). Morning workers were picking up the garbage with massive tons or broom and dustpan. At Starbucks We grabbed our order and went upstairs to the same bank of window seats we had a few days prior. We watched as a man rolled over and continued to sleep in the middle of the square.
After changing positions a few times he finally rolled awake, scratched his big belly with his hands and he stretched. He walked a few steps away from his sleeping spot, leaving his wallet and shoes behind, and towards a drain in the concrete. The gallery of coffee drinkers next to us were exclaiming, “No, no, is he gonna do it?” As he undid his pants, whipped it out, and peed right there into the drain. “You can’t even see it!!!” Someone exclaimed. It was wild and hilarious that we had front row seats to this bathroom break. He did up his pants and headed right back to his spot and back to sleep, right in front of our eyes.
Before I get too far into today, I forgot to write yesterday about a wild part of our day. After our morning combini run, basically wearing just our pj’s, we got back to our hotel and out of the elevator and Chris says, in the most nonchalant way, “Hey man, how’s it going?” to the couple waiting to get on. Turns out his colleague in the Coast Guard had sailed over here, met his partner, and was now on vacation and staying on the same floor as us in this hotel in Tokyo. Wild! We laughed in bewilderment about this all day.
Back to Saturday - we took the train to Minato, which felt like a financial district/city, in Tokyo, with high rises and concrete buildings. It’s rainy today, but for some reason we are holding out getting an umbrella. They are super cheap, but Chris doesn’t want the hassle of carrying it around. Even though so many places have these free umbrella lockers.
We’re here with tickets for Teamlabs Borderless, a digital art museum. I took a photo of the entrance sign, and an employee showed me the photo spot which made a big difference! See the before and after.
At Teamlabs there is no map, no guide, and we were warned some spaces would be tight, dark, and possibly hard to find. We entered into a beautiful hallway and found rooms where the art can follow you, or interact with you. We used the app to understand more about each room and the art there. For much of the space the art was being created by computers instantly, and would never be made in the same way again. In the largest room with a hill, we enjoyed the flowers and waterfalls, butterflies and rainbows all moving and blooming around us. The room also smelled fresh with eucalyptus.
Moving around we saw a few other rooms that were explained through the app. It had been 1.5 hours, and I wanted to see the tea room, so we went looking for that. On the way to what we thought was the end of the exhibit was room after room of more wonder. As Chris was looking at a display I turned a corner and found very thick curtains. I opened them and found a room with an incredible light show, so I turned back to grab Chris and bring him in. His face said it all; it was stunning and shocking. We were in a theatre style room with, I don’t know, maybe a thousand light beams doing 1-4 minute shows to music. It was absolutely wild. We stayed there for about half an hour watching all of the shows until it looped back to the one we saw when we got there. Chris says this was the most incredible things he’s ever seen in his life.
Wandering through the rest of the museum we found room after room of interactive art. A room with spraying mist with characters lit on the mist that moved as you moved. Glass mirrored balls with so many lights. Light rain installations. A room with giant crystals that changed with different lights. At one point we were under some artsy sort of lily pads, then moved and we were above them, all the time with lights dancing around us.
After 3 hours we felt like we’d seen it all and were hungry, so we left and started walking in the heavy rain towards our lunch spot. The neighbourhoods were very concrete, boxy homes, plenty of expensive cars in carports, and bikes left in driveways unlocked.
Te Cor Gentil - a tiny all vegan bakery with a bench to fit just two people, and a 2 seat table outside in the rain. Luckily we got the inside bench and we surveyed the offerings that all looked delicious especially since we were over hungry. We got a pizza bread with cheese that was sketchy it was so melted, 5 herb focaccia bread, a chocolate stuffed croissant, an almond stuffed croissant, a brioche cream puff, a sugar donut, and melon pan, a local treat that I didn’t think we’d be able to try. The melon pan is like a buttery flakey brioche bread surrounded by a sugar cookie, it was delicious. The sugar donut was the softest donut I’ve ever had. The croissants were flaky and so crunchy on the outer shell. The cream puff brioche had vanilla bean and it was my favourite bite. We were thrilled with our food and ate it all. Chris got an iced matcha and I got a black (!!) coffee which was excellent.
Wandering through the rain we stopped at a natural food store, Bio c Bon, to see the varieties of plastic wrapped foods and get Chris some bandaids for his sore feet. The single-use items in this country is absolutely astounding to see but is so normal here. We also saw a vegan bento! I was hoping to grab these for the train for the next day but didn’t want to carry them around all day, and later when we came back to grab them they were of course sold out.
Time for another treat, we stopped at Coconut Glen’s, ice cream from Maui that claimed to be among the best in the world. It was expensive, and the scoops were tiny. Chris liked his coffee toffee flavour more than the pistachio, and I loved my passionfruit flavour and the ginger lemongrass too. It was quite icy though, and I felt them claiming they were so good was influencing how much we enjoyed the ice cream. The employee loved her Dino gift and once again put it right at the front of her till!
Walking towards Tokyo tower we found a farmers market and wandered through.
Then we got up close to Tokyo Skytree! Though it didn’t seem like it, this is taller than the Eiffel Tower and is the tallest tower in the world. Wow!
We walked towards Zōjō-ji Temple and saw our first bamboo!
This temple was built in the 1300’s and relocated in the 1500’s. It seemed to specialize in prayer for babies, miscarriages, abortions and the like. They had incense burning and we saw many families dressed up in their Sunday best (including so much LV and other designers) with their babies for what looked like a revolving door of baptism ceremonies.
We found a spot for fortunes and paid to pick ours. Mine was excellent! Chris’s was “quite good”. So we didn’t have to complete the ritual of tying them to these posts if they were bad, in order to ward them away. Our fortunes came with unique little gold characters too. I forgot to snap a picture, but mine said both children and marriage are on the way! Lol.
We saw the main temple and the monks working away inside it. We also wandered in the rain through the gardens and saw all of these stone babies. They are there to represent unborn, still born and miscarried children to ease the path to the afterlife.
We saw gravestones of shoguns and a massive bell, one of the heaviest in the world.
After walking the temple grounds we walked a block or so away to find this Sailor Moon manhole cover. I spent some time talking Chris off the ledge as this was a fully packed day where we didn’t have time to go back to the hotel. It was 50 minutes one way back, so I convinced him to push through and stay with me, soggy and sticky from the rain.
We walked through a large sandy park, maybe for dogs? But it had a nice view of Tokyo Tower. I tried and failed to use the water fountain here. They shoot straight up instead of arced like back home. I got myself right in the eye with a lot of force and it STUNG! Though painful, we had a good laugh.
We also saw a labelled goji berry tree!
Time for another treat? Sure! This would be Chris’s third donut today. We stopped at Oscar Wilde, a vegan donut shop in a vegan complex! Chris got the Jack-O-Lantern and got to pick his “pumpkin” out. I got the popular curry donut. Served warm, it was coated in crispy, deep fried corn flakes, with a rich onion (?) curry in the middle. Maybe top 5 things I’ve ever eaten. I gave the two counter workers dinos, and one of the baker’s eyes lit right up. I asked how many people were working and she shouted, “FOUR!” She was absolutely thrilled with her tiny gift. I told them how incredible the donut was!! Amazing.
Since we were next to a mall and with time to kill we went shopping. We split ways and I tried on clothes that were all too small (that’s what 3 donuts a day will do to you!). They give you a disposable face mask so that your makeup doesn’t ruin the clothes!
I left Chris for maybe 15 minutes and when I joined back up with him he was paying for 2 pairs of shoes and socks from Onitsuka Tiger, at essentially half the cost they would be in Canada. He changed into them and was instantly relieved by the lessened support. I took note, and took out my orthotics for a similar effect. Felt like we changed shoes and our walks were so much more comfy now! This will be the move going forward, late in the day, to change shoes.
We walked to our next stop, the Mori Arts museum in Roppongi Hills. I’m not a museum gal, but when researching the trip this looked intriguing, was close to our dinner spot, and so I pencilled it in. We got tickets on the spot and then were directed in a group by many well dressed staff to an elevator where we felt our ears popping. Turns out we went up 52 floors!
The exhibit was from Louise Bourgeois’s collection, and it went through chapters of her live through her early years, her mother’s death from illness leading to her fear of abandonment, her fathers abuse and later death, her marriage and feelings about domestication, sexuality, and the human experience. She wrote poetry, painted, sculpted, sewed, and crafted her art out of seemingly any substance. It was truly profound, though this was the joke that Chris and I were saying to each other as we went through the museum. Even being not museum people, this was a very unique and enjoyable experience.
We continued to be awestruck as we viewed the many different forms of art and poetry, and read about her life.
We also viewed the smaller exhibitions, one of which included a collection of matchbox art depicting the Syrian war and ongoing issues. The pictures reminded me of what I see happening in Gaza. It was moving.
After checking out the gift shop we grabbed our bags from the free lockers and I changed into a dress for dinner. we walked out of the museum into the mist and rain and digested everything we saw while we made our way to Gonpashi.
Gonpashi! The restaurant that inspired the setting of the big restaurant fight scenes in Kill Bill. This was a place I found early in my planning and knew Chris would enjoy. We were early and got sat early at the bar seating which had two non-Japanese servers. Our greeting from the host to our seats was LOUD and all of the staff turned to wave at us as we entered. What a show!
After asking for the vegan menu we essentially ordered one of everything including assorted nigiri, tempura and skewers, and a vegan roll. My gin and tonic came with tiny lime quarters that were super tart and the drink was so refreshing that I got a second. Chris ordered the house made ginger ale which seems to be on every menu.
We were able to watch the kitchen performances, the yakitori grilling, and the owner go around and schmooze his tables while we ate. The tempura was so excellent we almost ordered a second round. The chive nigiri, Japanese ginger nigiri, and spring onion grilled yakitori were also my favourite bites. At the end of our meal, the WHOLE STAFF sang Chris happy birthday!! It was perfectly embarassing for him and I loved it.
After paying we walked to meet with Kara and Zain for our 9pm reservations at Gen Yamamoto. Yes, 9pm, so we had been out for 14 hours at this point and just getting to our last reservation.
Gen Yamamoto is a classically trained bartender, studying both in Japan and in New York. We sat at his expansive bar alongside two guys from LA and a couple from New York on their honeymoon. With a capacity of just 8 this was intimate, minimally decorated, and with no music, it was surprisingly ambient. We spoke about our days in hushed voices, while the guy from LA asked questions in a voice that could have made the walls shake it was so loud. By the end of our time here we felt it was clear the two from LA did not know what they signed up for.
As Yamamoto-San introduced the space and the menu, he said these are light cocktails with seasonal fruits. He began creating the first by grating a Japanese pear with a large wooden grater, which almost looked like an old laundry washing board. He mixed, muddled, and strained, all without ever measuring. He plated our first cocktails on a square platter garnished with a fresh flower which he spritzed with water. The drink was fresh, tart and tiny. The two from LA downed it like a shot and sat waiting for more.
The cocktails kept coming with new spirits, both local and curated from abroad, including a single agave mezcal and a blended Japanese whisky + scotch. We had apple, grape, fig, chestnut, and plum. Seven mini cocktails in total. One cocktail had bits of Japanese finger limes, grown by a friend of Yamamoto-San, which gave a pop of lime juice in your mouth as you drank it.
The New York couple, clearly foodies, chatted with K+Z about the various omikase food offerings and how difficult it was to book them. One of the two guys from LA was falling asleep sitting up, and so a conversation about jet lag ensued. Yamamoto-San even asked if he should continue serving for the two of them.
We finished, and by the time we thanked Yamamoto-San his cleanup was complete. We said goodbye and trained home, then said goodbye to K+Z as that was it for our planned time together!
Walking home we made a quick stop to Don Quijote as we hadn’t yet experienced that madness. This is a kind of variety store with many floors dedicated to different foods like character gifts, skincare, electronics, and much more. We said goodbye to Godzilla and got to our hotel to decompress, pack, shower, and fall quickly asleep. Day 4 was long, wet, but incredible.
I can't believe how much you guys pack into a day. This is unbelievable and exhausthing to even read. Kelsey you are an amazing writer and you keep us involved in every thing you do.You guys have definitely been catching a lot of rain and it seems that places aren't as busy because of it. I can't wait to read tomorrows blog. Night night love you both.
by Connie Stang