Today was a big day – early start and late finish, and lots in between.

We headed out early for our booking at  TeamLab Borderless, a multi room immersive art installation. In their words “teamLab seeks to navigate the confluence of art, science, technology, and the natural world”, involving “artists, programmers, engineers, CG animators, mathematicians, and architects”. It is very popular, so we booked weeks ahead. It was quite amazing, beautiful and innovative. Highly recommended. Photos don’t really capture the experience, but I’ll share a few here, and when I have more time I will add some videos.

We had lunch at a nearby cafe which advertised Melbourne coffee and features a large image of the Melbourne skyline (on the back of a whale) on the windows.Tokyo Tower was built as a radio tower in 1958, modelled after the Eiffel Tower  and was the tallest structure in Tokyo when it was built. We couldn’t resist the temptation to go up to the observation deck for the views of this huge city.

This is such a city of contrasts. One minute you are surrounded by crowds and modern technology, and then you find yourself strolling through a peaceful park full of tall trees, or enjoying the tranquility of a shrine or temple.

Having enjoyed the view from Tokyo Tower, we thought it would be nice to head up Tokyo SkyTree to see the view from there. It would be dark, so the twinkling lights of Tokyo beckoned. Sadly, that was not a good choice. It was unbearably crowded, with huge long snaking lines for the lifts in both directions. It was hard to get anywhere near the windows, and the whole experience left us wishing we had done anything else. We did manage a couple of photos, and the view is a reminder of the vastness of this huge city.

Fortunately that wasn’t the end of our day, we had a booking for dinner at Ninja Tokyo, a Ninja themed restaurant we had been recommended. It was a fun meal, with various special effects and even a magic show (no photos allowed for the magic, but it was impressive), and the food was delicious. Dinner was made even more fun by sharing it with Sydney friends who happened to arrive in Tokyo yesterday.