Both of us woke up this morning utterly exhausted. All this endless walking (especially up and down stairs for the subway) takes it out of you. We didn't leave the hotel until 11:00am and the first thing we did was organise our Japan Rail ticket ready for our departure to Takayama on Christmas Eve.
We decided to go back to Harajuku for lunch because with the crowds on Sunday it was just too difficult to see it all. In particular I wanted to walk down Takeshita Dori which is a narrow street aptly named because it's full of 'tacky shit'! There we found a store called 'Daiso' which is five floors of 100Y ($1.20) products.
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| Beginning of Takeshita Dori |
Whilst in Harajuku we also wandered in search of the Prada building, which is an architectural landmark that apparently draws as many amateur photographers as it does serious Prada shoppers. It is a truly amazing building and all the diamond shaped panels are totally transparent, so the poor shop assistants have no where to hide.
After having a late lunch in an Italian restaurant with an African chef we jumped off at the next station - Shibuya. By this time it was dark and Shibuya looked absolutely stunning with its giant commercial screens, pop videos and endless neon lights. Shibuya is known as the centre of youth culture and as you exit the subway you're thrust onto the world's busiest pedestrian crossing! We'd read that you should observe the crossing from level two of Starbucks and we sat there (with our lattes) for at least an hour watching in awe. Every three minutes without fail the pedestrian lights flash green and complete anarchy ensues.
I've included a video of the crossing below:
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| Our view from Starbucks |
Later on as we were strolling around the bright, noisy streets of Shibuya I noticed a department store I'd read about - 'Loft'. I think we spent the next two hours there. It is absolutely the cutest department store imaginable, with six floors of stationery, kitchenware, homewares, luggage goods etc. Even Mike enjoyed it as he kept discovering something more bizarre and interesting than the thing before.
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| Entrance |
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| Just one floor |
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| Mike with some delicious looking macaron pillows! |
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| Me with some huge stuffed toy cats |
To my delight we also stumbled upon a 'Food Show' which was like an art gallery of food!
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| French bread |
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| Sashimi |
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| Crumbed bits and pieces |
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| Delicate cakes |
For dinner we shared some Indian food and it was interesting because we had to put money into a machine, order through the machine and then give the ticket to the 'waiter'.
Gold! I hope you bought plenty of tacky shit. Are you wearing your Croatian apple earrings? I have a feeling they would go down well there...
ReplyDeleteThe stuffed cats and macaroon pillows are so you. And look, they have pear and vanilla bean ones (i.e. green and white) so you could buy one to remember all the ones you stole at my wedding! HAHAHA!
The people on the crossing look like cockroaches scattering when the light is turned on!
I think I would find the food art display aggravating - I'd want to eat it! By the way, whats with all the Italian, Indian and so on you're eating? I want to see noodle soups and dumplings and sushi and stuff man! We went somewhere new for a good broth last night and I thought of you. The broth was not subtle at all but still very good. Salty and aniseedy. The impressive thing though was the extremely generous amount of brisket meat. Oh yeah! Also we ordered fried squid in lemongrass and chilli, and bbq pork with vermicelli and little spring rolls. So yum. And a whole bottle of wine and a beer each. What a feast! I felt guilty but I had spent over a half hour at the gym which as we all know completely erases whatever you eat that day... right? RIGHT?
Anyway, enough about me, what about you?
Love you mole. Have awesome fun. Oh and by the way, it's so normal to get tired like that - you need to have the odd down day where you do very little!
BTW I meant a bottle of wine split not each! I hope you have been indulging in some sake!
ReplyDeleteAwesome photos Jacqui! The Prada building is amazing, I had to study it in architecture school...hopefully I'll get to Japan one day!
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