Tokoy Day 2 Shibuya & Takeshita Street 28/12/2008
January 1, 2009
Hmm… Day 2 at Tokyo was Free and Easy therefore it’s SHOPPING and EATING Day! Our 1st stop was around Shibuya Station.
Shibuya is one of the twenty-three city wards of Tokyo, but often refers to just the popular shopping and entertainment area around Shibuya Station. Shibuya is one of Tokyo‘s most colorful and busy districts and birthplace to many of Japan’s fashion and entertainment trends. Most of the area’s large department and fashion stores belong to either Tokyu or Seibu, two competing corporations. A prominent landmark of Shibuya is the large intersection in front of the station (Hachiko Exit), which is heavily decorated by neon advertisements and giant video screens and gets crossed by amazingly large crowds of pedestrians each time the traffic light turns green. (Extract from www.japan-guide.com)
We have our lunch at one of the supermarket. WOW! lots to choose thus end up we got different Bentos so we can food test everyone of them.
2nd stop Harajuku Station
Harajuku refers to the area around Tokyo‘s Harajuku Station, one station north of Shibuya on the Yamanote Line. It is the center of Japan’s most extreme teenage cultures and fashion styles, but also offers shopping for grown-ups and some historic sights.The focal point of Harajuku’s teenage culture is Takeshita Dori (Takeshita Street) and its side streets, which are lined by many trendy shops, fashion boutiques, used clothes stores, crepe stands and fast food outlets geared towards the fashion and trend conscious teens.In order to experience the teenage culture at its most extreme, visit Harajuku on a Sunday, when many young people gather around Harajuku Station and engage in cosplay (“costume play”), dressed up in crazy costumes to resemble anime characters, punk musicians, etc.
Meiji Shrine, one of Tokyo’s major shrines, is located just west of the railway tracks in a large green oasis shared with Yoyogi Park, a spacious public park.
But in the end we didn’t go visit the Shrine cos not everyone were interested. But we did joined in the fun in engaging in cosplay, we had our own 2 to be on “display” too. Let me present JadOss. Keke…
After that we went to Takeshita Dori for shopping. There is a Diaso there big enough to go thru for an hour or so. Takeshita Dori is birthplace of many of Japan’s fashion trends; Takeshita Dori (Takeshita Street) is a narrow, roughly 400 meter long street lined by shops, boutiques, cafes and fast food outlets targeting Tokyo‘s teenagers.
By then we finished walking the whole of Takeshita Dori and back to Harajuku station the sky had turn dark. We went back to Shibuya Station for our dinner but due to My nieces, sister and Xiaogo wanted to have beef for dinner, we had to spilt into 2 group again. Yipo follow us as she don’t eat beef too. We tried one of the restaurant and the food was nice and price reasonable too. After dinner we meet up with the rest and we went more shopping before taking the train back to Ikebukuro Station to our hotel without the other group… cos their dinner booking was 9.30pm
