Japan Day 2 - Harajuku, Shibuya

Day 2

First stop of the day, Harajuku!

No plans on where to go for breakfast, so I did a quick search on Trip Advisor for breakfast places nearby and this place caught my eye - Eggs ’N Things. Had a sudden crave for pancakes there and my order came out with 6 pieces, couldn't finish all of them :(

Check out their website here if you're interested in some American breakfast in Japan!

I ordered the Macadamia nut pancakes which was really just OK… Not that fantastic but portion was huge!

Headed for Yoyogi park and Meiji Shrine after that.

Yoyogi park
Address: 2-1 Yoyogikamizonocho, Shibuya, Tokyo 151-0052, Japan

A lot of people doing their things around the park, it was a nice walk with the cooling weather.

Meiji Shrine next

Meiji Shrine
Address: 1-1 Yoyogikamizonocho, Shibuya, Tokyo 151-8557, Japan

Barrels that contained sake for offering to the deities

You’ll need to cleanse your hands and mouth before entering the shrine

Lucky to also see a Japanese wedding photoshoot at the shrine

The shrine itself

Headed to Takeshita Street thereafter, the place for the latest fashion trend and cosplayers! It’s crazy crowded on a Saturday.

Lots of interesting shop for young people, unfortunately not for me. Though 1 place that interested me is the Calbee+ shop, where they fry the chips right in front of you and you can eat them immediately.

I bought the freshly fried fries stick (similar to Jagabee from Calbee where we can buy from the supermarkets)

Harajuku also popular for their crepes. I ordered one from Marion crepe, nothing to shout about though!

Next up, Shibuya! It’s really damn crazy lots of people.

The famous Hachiko statue

First view of Shibuya once u exit from the train station

Time-lapse of the famous Shibuya crossing which I took.

Read somewhere that there is an average of 5,000 people crossing this every time.

Settled for Genki Sushi for dinner.

Stay tuned for day 3 where I will head to Kyoto!

Japan Day 1 - Tokyo, Shinjuku

The land of the rising sun, Japan! After much anticipation, I am finally heading there.

Rough itinerary is as follows:
Day 1 - Arrival at Narita Airport - Travel to Tokyo, Shinjuku and check in to AirBnB and dinner
Day 2 - Tokyo - Harajuku and Shibuya
Day 3 - Travel to Kyoto - Fushimi Inari Shrine & Nishiki market
Day 4 - Kyoto - Arashiyama (Togetsukyo Bridge, Bamboo forest & Tenryuji Temple) and Kinkaku-ji temple
Day 5 - Travel to Osaka - Osaka Castle, Kuromon Ichiba Market & Dotonburi
Day 6 - Osaka - Umeda Sky tower & Kitashinchi District
Day 7 - Back to Tokyo - Tokyo Metropolitan Government building & Roppongi
Day 8 - Kawaguchiko - Mt Fuji
Day 9 - Kawaguchiko (till afternoon), Akibahara
Day 10 - Asakusa & Ginza
Day 11 - Back to Singapore

Breakdown of the costs (SGD) as follows:
Air tix: $675.40
Travel insurance: $39.00
Accommodations: $783.09
JR pass: $378.00
Data: $19.00
Cash: $983.86 (with leftover of around 7,000 yen)
Grand total: $2,878.35

Day 1

Took the 7-hour JAL flight in the morning. Picture of the in-flight food.

It was already 5PM when I arrived at Narita airport! Went to exchange for my JR rail pass and made full use of it by taking the Narita Express train directly to Tokyo.

I had to then take the JR train (free of charge using my JR pass) to my AirBnB apartment which is 1 stop away from Shinjuku. I had planned to travel to Kyoto and Osaka within my first 7 days in Japan, and hence its more worth it activating the pass immediately. However, if you're planning to only travel out of Tokyo several days later then you should not activate your JR pass first (as people usually buy the 7-day pass)!

Picture of my AirBnB apartment

By now, I was famished and hence wasted no time by heading to Shinjuku for dinner and with any  luck, do some shopping (shops around Tokyo close relatively early at around 9PM). 

Decided to try out the much-hyped Ichiran Ramen as my first meal in Japan. This is a “loner-style” ramen shop where one is given a cubicle to have their meal in peace without any awkwardness. You can’t even see the waiters from the cubicle!

They have several branches around Japan and their website is here!

Random walking around Shinjuku before heading back to rest.

Kinokuniya

Muji

Uniqlo

The famous robot restaurant which I did not go, entrance fee was 8,000 yen!

That's the end of day 1!