I started off the day by going to a little coffee shop across the street from the hotel. I ordered a caramel cinnamon toast and tried a matcha latte since I was in Japan. The toast was super simple but really great and I discovered I don’t like matcha drinks. It tasted like grass.
Meiji Jingu is in the middle of Yoyogi Park and the part of the park you walk through to get there feels like a forest. There’s lots of big, tall trees and you can’t see the city outside, it’s incredible that you’re still in Tokyo.
Walking along I came to the Meiji Jingu Inner Garden. I didn’t know this was a thing and decided to check it out. The paths are really pretty to walk through, but unfortunately at the time I was there not much was in bloom. April may not be the best time to visit those gardens.
With my detour through the gardens, it was getting later in the morning, and the people had come out. There were multiple tour groups and a quite a few people, and with this place being more popular than Nezu Shrine it wasn’t as serene as yesterday. I ended up not spending a ton of time here this morning.
Harajuku and Shibuya were close by so those were the planned areas to hit today. I walked across the street, and I was at the famous Takeshita Street. The entrance sign has a camera, and you can see yourself on the screen, but right as I went to take a picture of me on the big screen the video changed to something else. I stopped in the Capcom gachapon store and went down to the basement where most of the machines were. When I was done, I came up a different set of stairs and ended up in a Daiso. That was really confusing, they had some weird, shared space thing going on.
This area has a lot of “viral” foods to try. Long spiral potatoes, giant cotton candy, candied strawberries, crepes. I figured I’d try at least one, and the candied strawberries seemed like the least commitment. I got the strawberry/grape combo and should’ve just gotten the strawberries. They were probably the best strawberries I’ve ever had. So sweet, I could’ve eaten a bunch even without the candy shell. The internet was right about those at least.
Now it was time for some real food luckily, I had saved a place nearby. When you’re in Tokyo there’s one thing you’re definitely looking to eat. Tacos. Mexican food in other countries is often sus, but Tacos 3 Hermanos sounded legit from what I heard. This was a place I really wanted to try, because three weeks without Mexican food as an Arizonan was going to be tough. It’s a small place, they have five meat options, and they probably won’t have all of them available when you go. You get five tacos but can’t mix and match the meat you get. I got the carnitas and they were bomb. Highly recommend if you’re in Tokyo, just get there early since they can sell out.
Liberty Walk has a store nearby on Cat Street that I wanted to check out. I was hoping they’d have a car out front, but they didn’t. I ended up just buying a few stickers. I was really on a sticker kick this trip. I was just making my way down the street popping into stores that caught my eye. It seemed like every store I went into was playing the kind of late-90s/early-00s hip-hop you’d find in a Tony Hawk game. The vibes were immaculate, and I was loving this area.
I stopped for some ice cream at Milk Milk Milk. It was good but it was a little too milky for me, which makes sense considering the name. Kiddy Land was another store I wanted to check out. This is fun toy store, it’s not that big, but it kind of felt like going to Toys R Us as a kid. It was very busy though and hard to move around in there.
Continued walking down Cat Street, and I came across the Adidas Flagship store. I saw a shirt I really liked and realized it was a custom thing where you can design your own shirt. They actually had a shirt my size, so I was able to make a shirt I liked. I just had to come back in a few hours to pick it up.
I’m a big soda fan and like trying different sodas when I travel. Iyoshi Cola is a small craft soda maker that has a shop in the area. They have two flavors, and they serve it to you in a pouch. The original flavor is good, but I really liked the Japan edition flavor. It’s a unique flavor, you can taste the various spices, and the Japan edition has a bit more citrus flavor with the yuzu. When I left the line had gotten pretty long, so I didn’t want to get back in line and wait to buy the syrup.
Hot Toys and Medicom both have stores in the area, and being a long-time toy collector, I wanted to check them out. Toy Sapiens is the Hot Toys store and it’s a really cool store. They had their Celebration exclusives and a bunch of 12” figures on display. It’s a very tempting store to visit and it was hard to walk out without buying anything.
The Medicom store, Project 1/6, is less interesting. They mostly had Bearbricks and not many figures in a pretty tiny store; and they didn’t allow photos or videos inside.
I made my way into the heart of Shibuya to hit up the Shibuya Parco since they have another Pokémon Center, as well as a Nintendo Store and a Capcom Store. Lots of people had the same idea, cause it was busy. The Capcom Store was fun. They had some neat stuff based off their games. The Nintendo Store didn’t have anything I felt was worth waiting in the long line for. The Pokémon Center was a lot more crowded than Nagoya and I still didn’t find a Raichu plush.
For sunset I originally wanted to go to Shibuya Sky, but the ticket times near sunset sold out in a few minutes when they went on sale. Then I found a free observation deck not too far away called Top of Yebisu. Their observation “deck” is a small room with a few floor-to-ceiling windows. When I got up there, there were a few other groups, but they left so I was alone for a few minutes. Then other people with cameras started to trickle in. It was kind of funny the way we were all staked out each in a different window.
Unfortunately, it was pretty cloudy, so it didn’t make for the best sunset. The view was good though. I stayed until it got dark and the lights on Tokyo Tower turned on.
I had to get back to the Adidas store to pick up my shirt, so I made my way back to Harajuku. Shirt secured, it was finally time to eat. Once again, I opted for some traditional Japanese food, a hamburger. Henry’s Burgers was one of the best hamburgers I’ve ever eaten though. The sauce, the patties, top notch. I would go back again.
As I was finishing my food, it started to rain; and I did not bring my umbrella today. I quickly made my way back to the train station, stopping under cover when I could. Rested and dried off back at the room.
This was one of my favorite days of the trip, just chilled and relaxed with some great food and good vibes.
Lovely day with nice photos.