blog by luke

As usual, we left around midday, got our pocket sandwiches from the mini mart and then headed to the station.

Our destination for today was Harajuku, one of the most popular shopping areas in Japan. We saved this visit for a Sunday, it's the best time to go as the Gothic Lollitas and Rockabilly guys are usualy hanging around the area.

We arrived at the station and became part of a massive crowd when leaving. It was so busy it took us a minute or two to get out of the barrier onto the main road.

Before we started shopping, we decided to have a stroll around Yoyogi Park. To get there, we had to cross over the bridge which usually has Rockabillys and Gothic Lollitas but we didn't see any!

On the otherside of the bridge is the enterance to Meiji Jingu, a shrine/temple accesable via a path through a small forest and Yoyogi Park.

We had all done the Meiji Jingu walk before, it was far too hot to do it again and not something that's worth doing again. We headed straight for the park.

There were many snack stalls set up along the road leading to the park, the most popular stand was Kakigori (much to my delight)

Of course, I got myself a Kakigori. It was expensive, I didn't realise till I paid, guess these guys are cashing in on the heat. Also, it wasn't good at all, the ice was more like small lumps rather than thin strips, it wasn't good at all, I ended up throwing it.

We continued walking past the main enterance down the road, it's a nice little walk and not too far to the next enterance.

The park was quite empty today, there was hardly anyone around. We went through the side enterance, I think and walked back towards the bridge.

Randomly, I saw a weird van across the road. It was for promotion, I think, not sure what it was selling. It looks like something a super hero would drive.

We arrived back at the bridge, still no sign of Rockabilly guys or Gothic Lollita girls, such a shame, we came here on a Sunday hoping to see some.

There was a guy sitting on the bridge with a sign, it read, "Marry me! I want to sing a song in your language". Cas stopped me before I asked him to sing My Sharona.

We took the road down towards Ometesando, it wasn't as busy as the main area near the station.

Randomly, I saw what I thought was an 'A Bathing Ape' store but it was actually 'A Fishing Ape', it sold designer fishing equiptment!

We arrived at our first destination after a short walk from the bridge, Kiddy Land!

Kiddy Land is one of the biggest toy shops in Tokyo, it's very popular for tourists and always worth a little browse, even if you just look at the first floor.

The first floor sells a bit of everything where as the others are specific, we checked out all of the floors. Nothing really outstanding to describe so here's a bunch of pictures.

Randomly, I found a plush version of me! It's Luke from Professor Layton on the Nintendo DS.

After a browse around Kiddy Land we crossed over the road to explore the back streets of Ometesando.

The back streets opposite Kiddy Land were full of fashion shops, comparted to Takeshita Dori in Harajuku, this was a ghost town.

Randomly, I saw some cool graffiti on one of the backstreets, thought i'd take a picture and share it. Graffiti in Japan is quite rare but when I see it, it's usually a nice work of art rather than a mess by some twat who's just wrote his name on the wall.

Following a tip from Hiroe, we headed to the Forever 21 store, a mix between H&M, Topshop and UniQlo. She told us we'd like it so we went for a browse.

She was right, it was a cool shop. I wasn't expecting to buy anything, I didn't want to but there was three t-shirts there that I couldn't resist. Cas bought quite a lot too. Cool shop, cheers Hiroe!

We then met up with two of Penny's friends who was in the area. We decided to all split up and go shopping then meet later, much easier to do that as we wanted to see different things.

I went for a bit of a wander around the backstreets again, I was actually trying to find a shop but got lost.

Randomly, I found a bin with a bit of character to it. On a side notes, bins like in London don't realIy exist in Japan, instead there are recycle boxes scattered around, usually outside shops. It becomes a problem trying to find somewher to put rubbish. Suprisingly, the streets are very clean, I don't think I've seen any litter yet.

I eventually found the shop I was looking for, Angelic Pretty, a popular Lollita brand. I had to find this shop for my girlfriend, she loves it. I managed to get a quick picture before being told that none were allowed.

The most popular place in Harajuku is Takeshita Dori, a long street filled with trendy clothes stores, popular with the youths and gothic crowd, think Camden in London.

Ometesando is at the end of Takeshita Dori, I wanted to walk down from the top so took a side road back up to the top, cutting all the crowds.

I stopped off at Lotteria for a Hamburger and Kakigori to escape the heat (it was really hot!) I stayed in here to cool down a bit before venturing outside into the busy street and facing the wrath of the boiling sun.

Takeshita Dori is right opposite the station, it's where 90% of the crowd will go meaning the top is VERY busy. This is the start of the market street, Takeshita Dori, it's worth starting here to get the best experience right out of the station.

Just as I was about to walk down, I bumped into Penny who was seeing her friends of at the station. We joined forces to battle the crowds of Takeshita Dori together.

Randomly, we saw a sign that told us "No Smorking", it's only worth blogging because Engrish is amusing.

We reached the end of the street where it was a lot less crowded. We had to go and meet Cas so we headed back to our meeting point.

Me and Penny got to the meeting point at the same time as Cas, I was taking a picture and he got in it, can you spot him, Where's Cas?

We headed back up towards Meiji Jingu bridge, Cas wanted to check one more place out before we left, the UT UniQlo store.

The UT UniQlo store pretty much only sells the UT T-Shirts in the capsule like containers. There was plenty of choice but nothing either of us wanted.

We headed back towards Meiji-Jingumae station, it's right near Ometesando and Kiddy Land, might be worth going here next time to avoid the crowds.

We were all worn out from shopping and boiled from the sun, it was just as hot as the day we went to Studio Ghibli. I got a Fanta Grape from the vending machine, it's so refreshing and rich in flavour.

As it was still early evening, we decided to head to Akihabara on the way back to check out the big department store there, Yodabashi Camera.

Yodabashi Camera is one of the biggest stores in the area, it's right near the station and has just about everything though our interest was only in the 6th floor, toys and games.

I wasn't allowed to take pictures in here but it wasn't much to take pictures of, it's more of the same toys and games you can find everywhere else.

To my suprise, I found the new Taiko no Tatsujin DS game in here cheaper than everywhere else, I bought it without a second thought!

We decided to continue our evening in Akibahara, we walked to the main road from Yodabashi and passed the Gundam Café, it was incredibly busy with a long queue to go in, we didn't bother.

One of the best places to check out in Akihabara is hidden away in the back streets, we went off to find it.

Super Potatoe! Hidden away in what seems like a block of flats is the giant retro games / museum like store. This is retro gamers heaven, it's full of retro games and run by people who are obviously very pasionate about their games and the store.

There are lots of cool little hand drawn and made signs leading up the stairs and in the lift to the shop.

The shop is two floors of retro heaven, it sells all the retro games and consoles, also has a load of rare stuff and other things such as guidebooks and sound tracks.

At the top of the two floors is an arcade with some classic games from the 90's. It's quite small up here and there are better arcades, but it's a nice touch to the store.

By the time we left it was dark outside, we decided to finish our evening with a quick browse around the backstreet shops. One shop in particular, Gamers was very disappointing, it used to be one of the best but now it's full of pervy manga and games, not worth going in at all.

We headed back to Ningyocho to end the night with a quick meal, we were all tired and resorted to McDonald's.

As this would be the first and last time we had dinner in McDonalds, I decided to properly go for it and create an ultimate burger.

Combining a Hamburger, Shake Shake Chicken and McPork, I created something I like to call, the McFarm.

You may be thinking that's gross but it seriously works. The McPork at top was very juicy, it ran down onto the crunchy and spicey Shake Shake Chicken which was sandwhiched with the burger at the bottom, providing an equal balance of textures.

Seriously, it's good, try it at home with a Double Cheese Burger and a Chicken Mayo in middle.

When leaving, Penny got a milkshake, I was looking at the menu for a McFlurry when I noticed this, something you'd NEVER see in London.

They had Smiles on the menu, for 0 Yen. This is how friendly staff in Tokyo are, always happy to serve the customer and will never show tiredness or dislike for their job.

We headed back to the hotel quite early, needed another early night after so much shopping.

Today was nice, I spent more than I expected too but got some cool things. Harajuku was so busy, I didn't expect it to be as bad as it was, guess it's true that the place comes alive on a Sunday. It's a shame we didn't get to see many Lollitas or any Rockabilly guys but we still had a good time.

I think it was the hottest day of our trip, the sun felt like it was tearing into and melting the skin off our faces and arms. It got cooler a bit later on and even started to rain on the way back to the hotel, it was nice and refreshing to walk back it.

So in summary, a bit of a chill out day and it seems to have paid off, I feel more refreshed and ready for the next week.