Today we decided to go to 2 neighborhoods in Tokyo called Shibuya and Harajuku.  After we had breakfast at our Airbnb we walked to Shinjuku station and took the JR Yamanote Subway Line from there to Harajuku station. When we got off the subway we walked to a crazy busy no-car street called Takeshita Street. We walked on Takeshita Street for a few blocks and it was pretty overwhelming. It felt so good to come out of Takeshita Street. I bet it would have been a cool street to check out if there weren’t  so many people but it was just too much. This photo shows how busy Takeshita Street was. We were walking through the street at such a slow pace, it was like a human traffic jam. A lot of the shops on Takeshita Street looked cool but we couldn’t really stop to go in them. There was one bubble tea place that had a really huge lineup. After Takeshita Street we went to a cool building called Tokyu Plaza. It had so many mirrors! When going up the escalator you could see your reflection in several mirrors. There was one couple doing there wedding pictures and it was cool seeing them in so many different angles. Can you spot the bride? After checking out Tokyu Plaza we headed for lunch. We went to a gyoza place called Gyoza-Ro. There was aline but it was worth it. The pan-fried gyozas were scrumptious.

After lunch as a little treat we decided to buy  custard fishes. Custard fishes are basically pancakes shaped like a fish with custard in the middle.  Custard fish in Japanese is Taiyaki.  The photo above shows the place we got our Taiyaki from but the food in the picture is actually Takoyaki – fried octopus balls. The Taiyaki was totemo oshi.  That means very delicious in Japanese!  After Taiyaki we walked on a street called Cat Street to Shibuya Crossing.  We crossed Shibuya Crossing and it was sooo busy, and then we went to the Japanese dollar store called Daiso. We bought a few souvenirs and everything was only 100 Yen – $1.20.  When we were done with Daiso, we went to a Karaoke place.  Denise has really been wanting to do Karaoke in Japan for a while and Dad promised we could do it in Tokyo. We got a private room at a place called Big Echo and we sang a few of our favourite songs and we had a great time. After that we walked back to Shibuya Crossing and went to a statue of Hachiko.  Hachiko was a dog who had no owner and one day he met a man who worked in Shibuya station who kind of adopted him but not really because the dog didn’t live at his house. Every evening they met outside Shibuya station and they played together.  But after a number of years, the man died and the dog continued to come to that same spot day after day to look for the man until he died.  Hachiko is a beloved symbol in Japan of loyalty.

On our way home we went into Shibuya station and we got this good video of Shibuya crossing.  We took the subway from Shibuya to Shinjuku and then we had ramen for dinner.  We went to a chain that we went to in Sapporo called Ebisoba Ichigen.  It was really scrumptious.  It sure was a great day in Tokyo.