Meiji Jingu, Harajuku, Omotesando, Shibuya, Ikebukuro

DAY 1

As soon as we came back from Japan last year, we knew we had to return again soon! And so, one year later, we landed at Narita airport.

From the airport we went by bus to our hotel arriving at about 7:30pm. By the time we were all set with our room and cleaned up from the long flight from Hawaii, it was pretty late. Luckily our Tokyo friends had surprised us at the airport with dinner to take to the hotel!

They gave us a roll of shiitake makizushi, some inari zushi, and vegetable miso soup to enjoy in our room that night.

If you didn’t read the previous post, I should mention that we’ve been eating mostly vegetarian these days. Not 100%, but maybe about 90% when we are home in Hawaii. On this trip to Japan though, it was more like 70% (there was no way I was not going to eat sushi, sashimi, and my other favorites!) But on most days, we did try to find vegetarian friendly Japanese meals.

Back to the photo above, our friends being so considerate surprised us with this sushi roll of shiitake mushroom, kanpyo, and cucumbers – it was so delicious!

DAY 2

On this first real day in Japan, we met our Tokyo friends at 10:00am and headed down to the train station. We hopped on the Yamanote Line to Harajuku (which was fairly empty at this hour) to start out our first full day.

From Harajuku Station…

We made the quick walk over to the famous Meiji Jingu shrine.

Meiji Jingu is a Shinto shrine dedicated to Emperor Meiji and Empress Shoken.

It is an easy shaded walk to get to this shrine and a very peaceful place to visit in the middle of hectic Tokyo.

After taking our time at Meiji Jingu, we went back out to the busy Harajuku area of Takeshita Dori!

I had to do a double take when I saw that mannequin below!

Along the way we stopped at Daiso, the huge 100 Yen store – and also for a snack of Marion Crepes!

Here is a glimpse of their menu.

We shared number 72, the Apple Custard Crepe. Very light and delicious!

After Takeshita Dori we made our way down to the Omotesando area. We leisurely walked along the pricey shops like Gucci and Louis Vuitton, up the slight hill to the end near Omotesando Station.

We stopped near the end for some lunch at Osteria Mara Nello. It was a cute little Italian restaurant that served a lunch special of salad and mushroom pasta that was perfect for us.

By this time we were a little tired from walking so we took the Ginza subway line to Shibuya, the last area we wanted to visit for the day.

Outside of Shibuya Station we visited the Hachiko statue. This is the statue of the dog that after his master died, waited for years at the exit of the station for him to return. So sad yeah?

Right across from the Hachiko statue was this billboard for Soft Bank.

It really reminded us of our dog Rocky waiting at home in Hawaii.

In Shibuya it was a little busy, but not too bad.

We went there mostly to do some shopping at Tokyu Hands and Tower Records.

A little heavier with shopping bags, we made our way back with our friends to Ikebukuro for a simple soba dinner at Sunshine City.

In addition to these bowls, we also had a variety of tsukemono and some tempura.

After dinner we could have gone out again that evening. But since we had to get up really early the next day, we decided to grab some snacks from Family Mart and head up to our room for some Japanese TV!

DAY 1 & 2: Meiji Jingu, Harajuku, Omotesando, Shibuya, Ikebukuro
DAY 3: Mount Asama, Shiraito Waterfall, and Karuizawa
DAY 4: Ghibli Museum, Odaiba, Asakusa
DAY 5: Ikebukuro, Shinjuku, Ochanomizu
DAY 6: Tsukiji, Ginza, Akihabara
DAY 6 (Part 2): Kappabashi, Asakusa, Okonomiyaki, Monjayaki
DAY 7: Japanese Baseball at the Tokyo Dome
DAY 8: Ueno Park, Yanaka Ginza, Sengakuji Temple, Beer Museum Yebisu
DAY 9: Nikko Day Trip – Toshogu Shrine and Yuba
DAY 10: Fishing in Tokyo
DAY 11: Kanamachi and Shibamata