Woke up early and discover that the weather was sunny unlike the deary rainy day before. Hurray!
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| Bread with egg filling Rating: 4/5 |
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| Boss Coffee Rating 2/5 Green Tea Rating 3/5 |
Got some bread as well as drinks from the convenience store before going to our 1st stop of the day, Harajuku. Most of the bread we had from the convenience store was better than average quality and certainly gave us a pleasant surprise. However, the couple of times we tried the bottled coffee and cocoa from the convenience store, we found them insipid and lackluster. Teas were another story and most of them proved pretty good.
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| McMuffin Meal with tea and hashbrown - 460Yen Rating: 2.5/5 |
Still famished, we decided to drop in at Mcdonalds Harajuku and ordered the McMuffin Meal. Big mistake, the McMuffin taste exactly like the one in Singapore!
By and large, at 7.30am on a Sunday morning, it was still pretty deserted. Most of the shops were shut close. However, we were not here just for Takeshita Dori. Our first place of visit is Meiji Shrine.
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| Meiji Shrine Entrance Google Map: 35.669909,139.702029 |
Walking further south, we came across the Tori which signals the entrance to Meiji Shrine. Meiji Jingu is a Shinto shrine dedicated to the Emperor Meiji and Empress Shoken. The original buildings were destroyed in World War II and rebuild in the 1958.
While walking along the tranquil path leading to the Shrine, we came across these stacked barrels of sake donated by various organizations to Meiji Shrine. The walk was very pleasant and refreshing, punctured by the calls of birds.
Just in front of the Shrine proper, there were rows of plaques called Ema with well wishes hanging. Many of these plaques are in languages other than Japanese.
We were fortunate to happen to come across a wedding here! Seems it is quite common in Meiji Shrine, especially on a Sunday. Here's wishing the couple a everlasting loving life together!
A final picture of the Meiji Shrine proper before we headed to our next destination.
Even that early on a Sunday morning, you can see quite a number of people coming to the Shrine. Some were wearing their traditional outfits, especially the kids.
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| Yoyogi Park Entrance Google Map: 35.669099,139.700484 |
From Meiji we took a stroll to the entrance of Yoyogi Park. This is one of the biggest park in Tokyo and especially on a Sunday, people will gather to run, cycle, have picnics, practice their music and dance. We saw a couple having a picnic complete with wine glasses and all!
Here is where we had our first encounter with the Autumn leaves. Since it is huge, there is plenty of space for people. There were many young people in the park practicing their music and dancing.
This gentleman was playing the accordion, generating sweet music. He even brought along his own music sheet stand for that!
Amidst the fallen yellow autumn leaves, there were remains of fruits fallen from the trees. Probably edible as we spied a couple gathering the better specimens.
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| Harajuku JR Station Main Entrance Google Map: 35.670262,139.702802 |
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| Takeshita Dori Entrance Google Map: 35.671561,139.703135 |
After spending some time walking through the park and enjoying the autumn foliage or "Koyo" as it's called in Japanese, we went to Harajuku. What a difference a couple of hours make, approaching lunch hour, the street was throng with people. We spotted Daiso and we went in and bought sweets, cuttlefish, Disney souvenirs.
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| Angel Hearts Crepes Google Map: 35.671278,139.704854 |
Somewhere in the middle of Takeshita Dori, we found the famous pair of shops selling crepes. We just had to try it out.
With Christmas coming, the shops were decked out in Christmas decorations.
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| Banana Chocolate Millie Feuille Crepe - 470Yen 4.5/5 |
Hell, even their wrapping embrace the Christmas spirit with its red snow speckled design!
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| Marion Crepes Google Map: 35.671247,139.704903 |
Next up is Marion Crepes, supposively the first to start selling crepes in Takeshita Dori.
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| No 48 Strawberry, Cheesecake with Whip Cream 450Yen 4.5/5 |
What can I say, both were equally delicious and it's something you should try whenever you're in this area. Wanted to add ice cream, but my wife had a bad cough so we refrained.
There is a public toilet just a couple of meters away. Google Map: 35.671382,139.70497
As it was a Sunday, the streets were pretty crowded. We proceeded to walk via way of Omotesando Hills towards Shibuya enjoying the Autumn scenery on the way. We passed by many branded shops, Gucci, Emporio Armani, Burberry, Louis Vuitton amongst others.
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| Oriental Bazaar Google Map: 35.667321,139.707447 |
Nipped into Oriental Bazaar for more shopping as well as a toilet break.
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| Hawaii Kua Aina Google Map: 35.66291,139.710816 |
Stop by Hawaii Kua Aina for more food and a much needed respite from all that walking.
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| Clam Chowder Soup Rating: 3/5 |
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| Caesar Salad Rating: 4/5 |
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| Avocado Burger Rating: 4.5/5 |
Ordered the Avocado Burger Lunch Set which comes with a choice of drink and soup for 1280Yen. Really awesome burger! Apparently, this is their signature burger. We had an extra order of Caesar Salad. The restaurant has seating on the second floor which has Hawaii music playing in the background. They have a couple more outlets all over Japan.
Just next door is Berry Cafe. I kid you not and no we did not eat there. However the fruit tarts were really exquisite crafted.
We came across a Farmers Market and it makes for some interesting browsing. Over here they sell fruits, plants, honey, milk and many other products. Got a Fuji apple here and it was so sweet.
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| Green Tea Macaron Rating: 3/5 |
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| Rose Macaron Rating: 4.5/5 |
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| Chocolate Macaron Rating: 4/5 |
Went pass a Pierre Herme outlet and just could not resist getting their 3 Macarons for 1050Yen to try. Felt the green tea was a bit of disappointment cause the green tea favor was too subtle. The Rose one was the best of the lot, exuding a delicate Rose favor.
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| Famous Shibuya Crossing Google Map: 35.659467,139.700484 |
By this time, we have reached Shibuya and the first thing we did was visit the famous Shibuya crossing. Thousands of people used this crossing every day and it's probably the busiest intersection in the world.
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| Hachiko Statue Google Map: 35.659467,139.700484 |
The Hachiko statue is a popular place for people in Tokyo to meet. The story goes that faithful Hachiko waited at the same spot every day for over 10 years before succumbing to illness and a bronze statue was erected at that exact spot to honor his undying loyalty.
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| Shibuya 109 Google Map: 35.659554,139.699122 |
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Shibuya 109 is perhaps the most famous shopping center in Shibuy catering to the trendy young women of Tokyo. Withing it's compound, you will find over 100 boutiques spread across 10 floors.
Managed to capture this picture of some figurines being pulled around by a van probably for promotional actvities.
By now it was dark the picture above taken at 5.15pm illustrates that.
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| Don Quijote or Donki Google Map: 35.660336,139.696888 |
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With darkness upon us, we went for more shopping at Don Quijote or Donki as it is affectionately called. This place has many stuff on sale and the aisle is very narrow, reminiscent of Mustafa in Singapore.
One of the more useful item we got from there was this bubble bath at 100Yen, a steal which we used for the hotel's long bath. The face mask at 6 for 500Yen was of decent quality.
For our dinner, we went once again to Ichiran and this time further fine tuning the options yielded a truly magnificent bowl of ramen. Definitely the best ramen I've had on this trip.
