25.11.24 - Shibuya & Akasaka

On the agenda for today...Omotesando! Omotesando Avenue is over in Shibuya and is a great area to window shop and people watch (if you're into that). Most of the shops lining the street are high-end stores like Fenti and Chanel, but you get random fun stores like a huge building filled to the brim with Harry Potter things or a store called Kiddy Land with every anime/TV show characters you can imagine.

A group of Mario Karts passed by us at the intersection. So many questions.

Getting up towards the intersection with Harajuku Station and Meiji Jingu is quite crowded, but once you pass through the torii it gets better as the path leading up to the shrine is very wide and accommodates the crowds very well. The path from start to finish is covered in trees so it's very pleasant walk. The shrine however...utter madness. We were here probably around 10:30am so it was by no means early in the day, but we didn't even get up to the shrine because it was so crowded. If you're planning to go here, I'd say enjoy the walk because the shrine might not be accessible with all the people.

Heading back towards Omotesando Avenue, I wanted to stop at I'm Donut? because they are delicious, but the Harajuku store had a crazy long line so no stopping for that. We cut down a side street off Omotesando to get away from a crowded section of street and somehow find a really peaceful walking street filled with shops, still some high-end ones too. But there's practically no one down here so it's a very nice walk. Turns out, this street is called Cat Street. Hilarious. And no, there were no cats.

It's getting close to lunchtime so we make our way back towards the station. As we get closer, we pass another I'm Donut?...and there's a very short line! We quickly hop in line to wait our turn. I had given up on trying to get these donuts because I figured all the locations would be busy so was super excited when this line only had a handful of people. This one is the Omotesando location. Funnily enough, directly across the street is the Shibuya location. I think this would have been a fun one to go into because they have a larger assortment of donuts out on display to pick from, but I didn't realize this until later when we got back home. To each their own, but I think these are the best donuts and they have fun and funky flavors which makes you want to try them all!

Donuts acquired, we continue walking to the station to find a food place called Marche de Metro - Tutu and Papa loved this place and we ate here many times on my last trip with them a decade or so ago. It's like a tiny little food court with different sections including a bakery, coffee counter, pasta, salads, Vietnamese and BonBon Hawaiian (they have plate lunches like at home). Mom and I get pasta, one with mushrooms and one with broccoli and sausage. Dad gets a shrimp salad. We all cleaned our plates, very tasty food and casual atmosphere.

One last stop before we head home, actually two stops - walking by Meiji Jingu Gaien Ginkgo Avenue and Japan Traditional Crafts Aoyama Square. Meiji Jingu Gaien Ginkgo Avenue is a short street that is lined on both sides with pruned gingko trees, so during fall color change it's a very popular spot. I didn't get a picture because there were police on a megaphone basically telling folks to keep walking and not take photos - you have to cross the street in front of the row of trees, so makes sense that you can't stop - and even though they weren't telling us this in English, no one was taking photos so we followed the crowd and kept phones pocketed.

Japan Traditional Crafts is a nice store to view higher end handicrafts like lacquered bowls, handmade pottery, and so on. Tutu and Papa loved coming to this store and they usually got a nice dish whenever we came. No luck for us today, but viewing everything is half the fun.

It's nearing 3:00pm so we decide to head back home. We take a siesta then get more goodies from Matsuzakaya for dinner. We should get point cards for this store...we're here so often! Hard to resist when they have such good food.

Sayonara!