TeamLab: Borderless – Forest of Flowers and People and Other Exhibits

Last week, we explored the upper floors of TeamLab Borderless at the Mori Building Digital Art Museum in Odaiba, Tokyo. This week, we’ll take a gander at all the other exhibits they have hiding in the labyrinth of the first floor. Most are interactive, some are merely for spectating, but all have something visually arresting […]

TeamLab: Borderless – Athletic Forest and En Tea House

If you follow Japan at all on social media, chances are you’ve seen pictures of exquisite projection mapping displays in a darkened warehouse. This is a special exhibit by the art team TeamLab at the Mori Building Digital Art Museum. It is a large area with expansive displays that are a treat for the senses. […]

Fushimi Inari

When you see those glorious orange tori gates Japan is famous for, one site stands out among the rest for its sheer number: Fushimi Inari, just south of Kyoto proper. There’s a lot of history and culture packed upon this mountain shrine, ready to be unpacked by the willing traveler.

Setsubun

After about two years of asking various Japanese people about this holiday, I have enough information to pass it on to you, my fair reader. This year, it falls on February 3rd. It marks the official turn from winter to spring in Japanese tradition. However, it is also a holiday that involves beans, demons, and […]

Japanese Dumplings: Gyoza Festival 2018

It appears to be that time of the year where I catch up on posts I didn’t get to from the end of the previous year. Whoops! In this installment, we go back to November 4th when the Mrs. and I went into Tokyo to partake in some of the nation’s best gyoza (dumplings) on […]

Tokyo Metro: The Underground Mysteries 2018

Every year for the past four years, the Tokyo Metro company has put on a bit of a scavenger hunt puzzle that takes you all across the Tokyo metro area on the Tokyo Metro subway lines. Armed with your puzzle kit and a 24-hour metro pass, you zip around Tokyo, finding clues in real life […]

Lucky Bags in Japan

Do you fancy yourself a gambling-type? Do you find a thrill in the luck of the draw? Do you also like getting goods at steep discounts? If you answered yes to any of those, then Japan has a New Year’s consumer tradition for you: The Lucky Bag, or Fukubukuro (福袋).

Things I Enjoyed From 2018

It’s the end of the year and I felt that instead of going through the top nine Instagram posts I threw into the Internet void this year, I thought I’d discuss (mostly media-related) things I found or did this year that really got me inspired in hopes that they might inspire you, too!

Shibuya Blue Cave (Ao No Dokutsu)

Winter illuminations (light displays) are very popular in the winter months in Japan, with most starting in November and going through January. One particularly popular and unique display is in Shibuya ward in Tokyo, where they take a piece of Yoyogi park and a drag of the city and line it with over 600,000 blue […]

Robot Fried Chicken in Osaki, Tokyo

Japan is known for its futuristic automation. The convenience store chain, Lawson, decided to get in on the game with its own robot that cooks and dispenses fried chicken for the masses.