Day 6: Omotesando, Harajuku, & Shinjuku

I woke up a bit earlier than usual and decided that it would be a really good idea to see Harajuku on a weekend, so I could get a sense for what kind of energy it has and what it's all about. Plus, since on the weekdays Shinjuku Station is the busiest station in the world with 3.5 million daily visitors, I wanted to not be in the area during the weekday if possible.

I started my day by compiling my general list of locations to walk to. I started with "Walk 3" from Tokyo Walks: See the City Like A Local and trimmed off a few of the places that had permanently closed in the time since the book was published and by adding a few extra stops.

After being convinced that I was prepared for the day, I left. Only to immediately come back since I had forgotten to actually put the schedule on my phone. Ready for sure this time, I left again.

I boarded the subway and headed for Omotesandō Station. Once I arrived, I realized I wasn't ready at all and that I had forgotten my deodorant. Well you live and learn I guess. It was a rather cool overcast day, so luckily it wasn't as big of a problem as I had originally imagined but the sheer damage dealt to my ego was already enough.

Omotesandō is a main street through that plays home to lots of high-end fashion retailers and passes through Harajuku, an area known for fashion and cafes and has a general youthful vibe.

The backstreets of the area have small boutiques and cute places like this one:

I explored the back alleys for a bit and walked along Cat Street to see some of the smaller, more niche boutiques. I realized that sometimes fashion brands can be weird.

As an aside, I've seen a Louis Vuitton in every single neighborhood I've gone to on this trip. It can't possibly be that exclusive or cool. I've seen way less American Eagle here than LV so really who's stylish here?????

Anyway.

I'd read that Tokyu Plaza had a cool mirrored entrance and a nice rooftop garden so I headed there.

The entrance was cool but not like the single most cool thing I'd ever seen so I guess 7/10. The rooftop garden was nice though. As we will see today, rooftop gardens and rooftop access seems to be relatively common, so you should be able to find lots of places with nice views if you visit. I had also realized at this point that a good half of everything I do on this trip requires going to a shopping mall. They're everywhere!

The rooftop garden was nice as expected but a bit crowded. There is a Starbucks on the top level, which is at least as popular as in the US, so there was lots of traffic. There were also people eating on the roof but there was room enough for the amount of people up there. The view was good and helped show how busy the area was.

After leaving Tokyu Plaza, I walked along Takeshita Street. I think this street is basically the definition of "suffering from success". Takesita Street is the single most crowded place I have visited in Tokyo so far and I think that even areas like the Shibuya Scramble are less crowded because there is much more room for spreading out. I personally don't think it's worth visiting Takeshita Street unless you are specifically into more fringe fashion like frilly goth lolita or super kawaii pastel stuff (IDK what that's call, sorry LOL). It would be a good place to get a crepe if you want to wait an hour though.

After this, my plan was to walk to Yoyogi Park and Meiji Shrine, which are considered some of the tip-toppest tourist destinations.

However, on the way I had to walk through a sort of election rally.

I'm pretty sure the election is tomorrow which is good because the election-mobiles have been pretty annoying the entire time I've been here so far. In the Japanese elections, the candidates (and their supporters) will drive around cars with huge megaphone setups (pictured above, sorry for people blocking view) and usually just say the candidate's name over and over. They do go into longer things when traffic is moving more slowly or at stop lights but man it gets old fast, I don't know how the constituents deal with it.

Imagine hearing this all day every day for a week or two: "JD. JD. JD Porterfield for 3rd Precinct! JD! JD! JD Porterfield!"

I think this was being filmed so maybe I appeared onscreen briefly for some political coverage on local TV!

After making it to Yoyogi park, I was rather hungry so I bought some Yakisoba for 3 dollars. It was a great deal but I wasn't sure if I should be happy or sad when I found a single piece of meat after eating all of the noodles.

The park itself was mega busy and for some reason reminded me of the painting "A Sunday on La Grande Jatte". I had hoped to see some Sakura blossoms in the park still at the sakura garden, but it was all just vivid green - which is a good thing but not what I wanted.

After exploring the park a bit, I was annoyed to find out I had to leave the park to enter the grounds for Meiji shrine. even though they are right next to each other, they have separate entrances and are no paths connect internally. This is actually a good thing though as I would come to find out.

But not until after a somewhat grueling 20 minute walk. My coffee energy was running out, and my milk tea wasn't providing the level of caffeine required.

After just focusing on putting one foot in front of the other, I found myself at the north-west entrance to the shrine, which was considerably less busy than the main entrance people typically take in the southeast. I'd recommend this entrance if I had to pick one.

The northern side of the shrine grounds also has open areas similar to Yoyogi but much less busy, so they felt nicer and a bit more calm.

The actual shrine itself is nice, but busier as you'd expect. I'd probably not recommend coming here on religious holidays or new year's day.

After a little break, I was now on my way to Shinjuku. On the way, I made what I thought would be a quick stop at Takashimaya Times Square, another mall. After browsing for a while, I realized I was only exploring a single self-contained store within the mall. Luckily I found the path out:

Inside, I surprisingly found a bookstore that carried mostly English books.

I also walked around the top 3 floors looking for something to eat but nothing really struck my fancy. There was an eel place but it was expensive - like $100 per meal - so I decided not to go. Luckily though, this mall also had a nice rooftop garden!

After staying at this mall for over an hour, I walked towards Shinjuku Station. I explored Lumine, the department store on top of the station, and that was a BIG mistake. It was so crowded. I do not recommend going here unless it's during BOTH school and salaryman working hours. I spent a decent amount of time here but mostly because the escalators were bottle-necked and the thought to look for the regular stairs never crossed my mind.

Shinjuku was busy as expected. The atmosphere was lively for sure.

I took a quick look at Omoide Yokochō, a small alley with some food stalls and shops but they were all packed so I continued on my way. After a quick stop to see another Godzilla, I made my way to the station (but not the main Shinjuku one LOL).

Walking to the station brought me through Kabukichō, which has a seedier feeling than Shinjuku. The area was less crowded and is known for host and hostess clubs (read the wiki for more info) and full of love hotels. The posters on the buildings here advertise individual hosts or hostesses you could talk to and at some promoters will beckon at you to come in.

I didn't take a photo but here's the streetview for one such building. It does feel a lot different after dark though haha

After my exhausting day, I rode the train to the closest station, grabbed some okonomiyaki (that I had wanted yesterday!) at the convenience store, and walked the rest of the way home.

Somehow today was my most exhausting day yet! Let's try not to break any records going forward.