Harajuku sits between Shinjuku and Shibuya. If I was to liken it to one ward in particular though, it would be Shibuya due to the cool vibe and positive energy you feel when you arrive. Harajuku is the place for extreme fashions and you will see lots of people expressing themselves in their loud, colourful and flamboyant clothing whilst looking for the latest ‘kawaii’ item to add to their collection. Kawaii is basically the culture of cuteness in Japan – how cute!!!!
Your first stop at Harajuku has to be Takeshita Street. It is a pedestrianised shopping haven for teenagers who are into their cutting edge fashion and all things kawaii. There are cafes, bars etc but the biggest craze at the moment is the humble crepe. I have never seen so many crepe stalls on one street and everybody on the street seems to have one in a cone. Of course, we had to join in with the craze so I got a strawberries, chocolate and cream crepe and Paul got a blueberry cheesecake one. We watched the cheerful girls make the crepes and there was a whole wedge of blueberry cheesecake in Paul’s. Epic!!
Once you’ve had your fill of shops and cuteness, you can head to Yoyogi Park and walk off the huge crepe! It is a beautiful city park with large forested areas and wide paths that you can meander along and dance your cares away. Most people who visit the park head to Meiji Shrine and you would be mad to miss it. It is Tokyo’s largest Shinto shrine and the area it resides in is just full of beautiful evergreen trees and the noise of Tokyo seems to disappear. The buildings are stunning from the torii gate to the main shrine buildings but the area that is ever popular with budding photographers, is the area with the sake barrels. They are on a stunning display and are called kazaridaru in Japanese. These barrels are donated every year from different brewers around Japan and are used for shrine ceremonies and festivals. Gorgeous!!
We spent ages at Meiji Shrine just walking around, relaxing and admiring literally everything. We were even lucky enough to come across a Shinto wedding procession!
If you ever get to visit Tokyo, please don’t miss out Harajuku. It is well worth the visit but make sure you have room for a crepe as you will be the odd one out if you don’t have one!!