Today was our free day in Tokyo, and Pavel and I were determined to make the most of it! We woke up early, and hopped on the train down to Odaiba and Diver City to see the one thing we’ve waiting for all trip: the life sized Unicorn Gundam Statue. The train ride wasn’t bad at all, and it was awesome seeing the water and bay as we rode over the bridge to the floating city. 

Getting off the train, we immediately went to Diver City and walked towards the front, where we were greeted by the looming form of the RX-0 Unicorn Gundam. It was large, just as big as I imagined, and my jaw dropped as I giddily stared up at the giant mobile suit statue. It was honestly beautiful! 

After witnessing that and taking many pictures, Pavel and I went to a nearby restaurant for some fluffy pancakes before the mall opened. 

Once the doors to Diver City Mall opened, we darted up to the top floor where Gundam Base Tokyo awaited us! Filled to the brim with Gunpla and Gunpla models on display, it was a Gunpla fan’s dreamscape. I nabbed a few exclusives, and then spent the rest of the 1 and half hours there browsing Gunpla kits and spending a good chunk of money. I was so enraptured by the kits, I actually forgot to really look and pictures of the displays! 

After checking out, we exited the mall just in time to see the gundam statue transform! Its panels shifted and opened to reveal LED-lit areas underneath, representing its Psycho-Frame technology from the show. We were about to leave then for Yokohama to see the moving gundam, until suddenly another tourist from the East Coast told us it was closed this week for maintenance, which we verified. So unfortunately those plans were ruined, but that just meant newfound time for other things! 

We instead went back to Shinagawa first, to see a statue outside of Kojima studios, and then went back to Asakusa to do some souvenir shopping! We found a lot of local shops that specialized in certain things, like Edo glass jewelry, chopsticks from baseball wood, and Japanese style fans! I spent a lot here as well. 

All the shops closed very early however, so by 6pm all of them were basically closed, so we wandered around Senso-ji temple for a bit before deciding to head to the Tokyo Skytree! It was a spur of the moment decision, so we walked across the Sumida river to the tower, which turned out to be a great time! The sun was also setting, making for some beautiful pictures. 

The Skytree was great, and gave us a gorgeous view of the Tokyo skyline! I also get a pretty cool engraved medallion, and Tokyo-exclusive curry flavored pringles? 

Once we finished there, we visited a few more shops in the tower in lower floors for merchandise, and once they closed we headed back via subway to the hotel to unload our haul of the day. 

Overall, a very fun and successful free day!