Our plan today would cover Harajuku(原宿) and Odaiba. After the buffet breakfast in the hotel, we took a free hotel shuttle to Shinjunku Station, from there we boarded JR to Harajuku.
We started exploring the east side of the JR Harajuku Station, where lots of youngster gather around particularly on Takeshita-dori Street, with shops selling goods mixture of hip-hop and punk styles, Hello Kitty cute stuff, lady accesories, vintage sneakers and even used designer goods.
I heard that this narrow street is fully packed on Sunday with mostly fashion-conscious teenagers dress fancyly with Gothic and Lolita costumes. Too bad it was a Saturday and we miss all the fun, not able to see any of this kind Harajuku girl at all. Photos below shows the Takeshita-dori followed by Harajuku girls which I extracted from the local guide booklet(just for reference only).
Moved on to Omotesando dori, the equivalent of Tokyo’s Champs-Elysee. Down here you can find the branded shops like Louis Vuitton, Gucci, Channel, Prada building and more. Well, I am not a fan of branded fashion so just window shopping and my wallet was safe smilling.
Hmmm.. not so “safe” till I walked pass a shop call Kiddy Land, a six-floor shop selling all sorts of japanese cute toys, figures and Voodoo dolls. At the end, we bought a jewel shiny cat plush, a bunch of cute keychains, 3 Voodoo dolls and a Rilakkuma(namely relax bear) just like the one on the bottom right corner as shown in the picture below.
Before we left, we dropped by Meiji Shrine(明治神宮) which is concealed in the middle of the Yoyogi Park. I heard that nowadays it becomes a popular place for traditional wedding and New Year ceremonies. It was a long sandy path towards the shrine, along the way we saw a wall of sake, used for various ceremonial and wedding purposes.
At the gate of Meiji Shrine, we captured some photos of the young street performers as shown below.
Next, we hopped on the JR train to Shimbashi. From there we took Yurikamome monorail to Odaiba(大台場). Along the Yurikamome line are views pf Rainbow Bridge, Decks Tokyo Beach, Fuji Television, Odaiba Seaside Park, the Museum of Maritime Science and Palette Town.
We alighted at Daiba and walked around Aqua City Odaiba, which is an entertainment and shopping paradise. Next to it is Decks Tokyo Beach, another shopping complex. The Sega’s Tokyo Joypolis is here with lots of video game arcades.
Outside of the malls, there is a view of the Statue of Liberty replica and the Rainbow bridge. The photos were taken around 5:50pm, so not much lightings from the bridge can be seen.
There are much more things to see and do at Odaiba but we just had to forgo many of them as our initial plan didn’t cover this area. Really hope that I have the chance to re-visit this place again.