I know this really isn't a food post, but I felt it was my duty to post about this spectacular event. No worries though, I did add a little food in here as well.
This year, something magical is happening at Kairakuen in Mito. There is the Plum Blossom Festival during the day which is always a delight to experience. At night, there is a festival of lights, art and just wonderful things that only Team Lab's imagination could have produced. I wholeheartedly believe you should check out Team Lab's Digitized Kairauken Garden event.
Team Lab's Digitized Kairauken Garden event
The wife and I had bought tickets to this event a month ago. You can either buy the tickets online or at a ticket booth near the entrance of Kairakuen. I believe the tickets are 1,500 yen per person. If you do decide to buy tickets online and want to experience this great event, I have some good news and bad news for you. The good news is that there are still tickets available, but the bad news is the weekend tickets are all sold out. You can only purchase tickets for week days.
The wife and I headed to Kairakuen last Tuesday, and boy were we excited. This was a chance for us to check out a Team Lab event. We were planning to go to their Tokyo gallery last year but corona put a stop to that. Anyway, when we got to the event, we were surprised to see just how packed it was. Want to know how many people attended? Check out the video.
That's a lot of people
Once you enter Kairakuen, the event has a set path for you to follow. You will first go around the area of Kairakuen's Kobuntei, which is the big traditional Japanese style house that belonged to one of the Tokugawas. Here, in this area, all the trees are lit up in different colors with nice relaxing music playing in the background. After that, you get to the event my wife loved which was this light net display that plays tricks on your brain. It hits the trees in a way that made them look like they were moving and it was fantastic.
Amazing
After this incredible display, you move onto the egg forest. In this forest, there are these big colorful eggs all around the area that light up in different colors. If you touch the eggs that are placed in the walking path, the eggs change color. All this while still playing that relaxing and mystifying music in the background. The egg forest is in the video above.
Beautiful Plum Trees
Of course, all the plum trees are lit up for your viewing pleasure. Strolling down all the plum trees at night is a real treat and one that the wife and I really enjoyed.
This is only a small taste of what this event has to offer. There are still more things to see in this magical event and I highly recommend you check it out if you have a chance before it is over. After the wife and I finished walking around the event, which took us an hour and a half to see everything, we decided to check out the yatai at this event.
The Food Stalls
Sadly, I have to report that there aren't many yatais at Kairakuen this year. I am sure the reason being that the pandemic isn't over and everyone is still being somewhat cautious. You still have your karage, yaki soba, takoyaki and all those usual yatais that everyone knows and loves. But one particular yatai caught our eye and it seemed to be the most popular yatai there.
Taiwanese Fried Chicken
The wife and I lined up for this yatai which sold Taiwanese fried chicken. I am not sure if you have ever had Taiwanese fried chicken but it is amazing. I had some when I went to Taiwan and my only regret was not having one every night I was there.
Momo or Mune?
This yatai has two different pieces of Taiwanese fried chicken, the mune ムネ breast and the momo モモ leg. The wife said that we were getting the breast of chicken which was 600 yen. It took quite a while for the woman running the yatai to fry our chicken but once we got that huge piece of fried chicken, we were in awe.
Delicious!
This Taiwanese fried chicken had so many spices and flavors. It was great. It brought me back to the time the wife and I wondered the streets of Taiwan's night market trying the fried chicken for the first time. This chicken was damn good. I do recommend that you have a wet wipe with you if you want to try it. This chicken is a bit greasy so your hands will need that wet wipe.
100 Year Mito Plum Wine
Unfortunately, the Taiwanese fried chicken was the only thing we ate at Kairakuen that night. We did end up buying a bottle of 100 year Mito plum wine to take home at the Kairakuen gift shop. If you haven't tried this plum wine, you should. It is quite delicious and smooth.
The wife and I really did enjoy our time at Team Lab's Kairakuen event. It is something we will never forget and we both hope you can experience. We didn't end up eating anything at the event except that amazing Taiwanese fried chicken. I should mention that the restaurant at Kairakuen was closed during the event so we couldn't go there. However, we did end up going into central Mito and trying a really awesome café. But that is a story for another post. Again, I hope you can experience this mystifying and amazing event. You will have to buy your ticket soon though. This event ends March 31st. Enjoy! For more information on Team Lab's Digitized Kairakuen Garden event, check out their website and buy your tickets here: https://www.teamlab.art/e/kairakuengarden/
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