Our First Real Day!!!
First off Japan is amazing. Even in one of the most densely populated cities in the world Mer and I often found ourselves whispering as we walked down the streets in effort to avoid disturbing the peace. It is truly one of the calmest places we have ever been and the nature woven in throughout the city is beyond refreshing. It is so green and so clean. Not to mention even though the language barrier is quite strong everyone we have encountered has been so nice, welcoming, and willing to help. Now for our day….
Breakfast 7/11
Mer had a matcha old fashioned which was unbelievably good
Breakfast 7/11
I got pancakes with butter and syrup sandwiched between them and they might have been the best pancakes I’ve ever eaten
Mer and I both woke up at 2 am this morning unfortunately wide awake. We should have never underestimated jet lag. It was a rainy morning so after our breakfast we took a walk around our neighborhood and then went to Shibuya crossing.
After walking around Shibuya crossing and hitting Conner’s bucket list item of seeing the Hachikō statue, we made our way to Betty Smith which is a custom jean maker that makes jeans using raw Japanese selvage denim that is dyed with real indigo. Safe to say Mer was nerding out.
After we arrived, Mer got to pick out the style she wanted for her jeans and got them fitted. Once she found the perfect style, she got to pick out the rivets, buttons, and patches. She chose rivets in the shape of sliver stars, silver flowers, and their iconic round silver Betty Smith rivets, a button with Mount Fuji on it, and a brown patch with their logo in pink. Our amazing guide showed her how to attach the buttons and rivets myself. It was super cool. Special mention to the vending machine outside, where we got the most delicious drink on the planet (we have no idea what it was, but presumably some sort of juice concoction)
After Betty Smith, we walked around into some cool concept stores that Mer had saved and I fought the urge to buy a super cool (but very expensive) jacket. It was around lunch time so we decided to walk and get something to eat. We ended up at a restaurant where we both got some version of Soba. It was so good that I even drank my broth!!!
Our final stop of the day was team lab planets, which is an immersive art experience. It starts with taking off your socks and shoes and walking up a ramp with running water. Then you are lead through a series of rooms with various themes. It is hard to put into words and honestly the photos do not do it justice. One room was knee deep water with mirrored walls and Koi fish projected into the water to look like they were swimming around, another room had strings of LEDs to look like you were in a twinkley light forest, another had you lay on the ground in the center of the room and watch a beautiful projections of floral imagery, and another had actual dried flowers that moved up and down around you as you sat on the floor. That is just the start of it, but hopefully the photos convey the idea!
Still wishing we could go back into team labs for round two we decided to head off and conquer the Tokyo subway system. Everyone online had universally agreed that the subway system was extremely confusing and easy to get lost in. However, to us, it seemed like the easiest thing ever. It makes so much more sense than the NYC subway system. It’s safe to say Mer has some serious gripes to take up with the MTA. It was truly amazing, felt very safe, and it was so quiet on the trains you could hear a pin drop. Our night ended in Shibuya in sadness and defeat when we stumbled across a claw machine store and couldn’t fight the urge to “try” since we had an extra 100 yen coins anyway. 2,500 yen later and we didn’t win anything. At least tomorrow is a new day. Thanks for reading!
✧˚ · .all blog posts are written by merrick bearson and conner couture.·˚ ✧