After the day my family and I spent at DisneySea, we headed into the city to check it out and I loved it. Here are a few highlights!
We stayed at the Tokyo Station Hotel. It was established in 1915, showing Japan’s rich cultural heritage. The artwork and architecture was beautiful!
Our first day in the city was spent doing a lot of walking. I was blown away by how clean this city is! It was also relatively quiet considering how big of a city it is. The futuristic vibe is so interesting and fun. I saw so many things that caught my designer eye like photographs, uniform arches, and big signs (that I can’t read of course).
We went to a lot of shops that were themed for Anime, Pokemon, Japanese pop culture, Hello Kitty, Sylvanian families (Calico Critters), and others! We got a lot of souvenirs. The designs in these places were so inspiring.
At one of the stores, there was a section of Studio Ghibli stuff, which my family is a big fan of. There were these paper theater products you could purchase, and make crafts of characters from these animated movies. Seems like a fun Glowforge, Silhouette, or Cricut project!
After stopping for some food at some stands and a cat cafe, we went to the Senso-ji Temple! I understand now why this place is so famous for getting so many tourists. This is Tokyo’s oldest and most significant Buddhist temple. The signs and symbols were stunning, as well as the giant lanterns! One of the things I loved most about this place was the signage and images with clean shapes and lines. Truly a magical place for a designer!
Lastly, I wanted to highlight the Imperial Gardens. It felt like Central Park in New York City. Although you can’t go into the Imperial Palace except on certain events of the year, we walked these grounds and enjoyed the lush scenery. I enjoyed this incredible city so much.
If you’ve ever been to Tokyo, let me know what your favorite sites were! Also be sure to visit my YouTube channel for the video of this stop on our trip at https://www.youtube.com/@carinagardner
