Tokyo - Harajuku & Shibuya

Harajuku - what an eye opener!   It is home to Japan's most extreme teenage cultures and fashion styles and it all seems to converge on Takeshita Dori where it was literally shoulder to shoulder crowded on the Sunday morning we visited.  
Takeshita Street and its side streets are lined with many 'trendy' teenage shops with sum very interesting fashions! 

Harajuku Station 

Look at the crowds! 

 

 
 
 




In addition to teenage fashions, Harajuku is also known for its more 'moderate' fashions in Omotesando, a broad tree lined avenue which feels a little like Tokyo's version of the Champs-Elysees.  After a ramen lunch, we headed over to Omotesando where the stores are for the more adult minded clients and there is a three storey Kiddy Land store for kids.  Our girls were very excited to get to Kiddly Land but were a little disappointed with the toys that were geared towards the Japanese kids market.

 

The Yamanote line's busy Harajuku station is also the station to get off  for the very impressive Meiji shrine. The shrine is right next to Yoyogi Park which is made up of alarge forested area and is amazing given that it is within the densely built up city

 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 

 

 

All this park land right in the middle of Tokyo

After a busy day in the Harajuku area we got on the Yamanote line again and headed to Shibuya to see for ourselves the world famous Shibuya crossing and the statute of Hachiko (the dog who never left Shibuya station which is where he waited for his owner each day to come home from work and continued to do so when his owner died at work and never came home on that train).

 
 
 

Hachiko! 

Neon lights of Shibuya 

 

Ramen dinner in Shibuya