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Japan September 2018 Part 3 - Koraku and Harajuku

On our second day in Tokyo, after visiting Pokemon Centre DX and Cafe and shopping at Tokyo Station, we headed over to Koraku area because Miss Kiki wanted to visit a garden. The garden on my list was the Koishikawa Korakuen Garden. To get there, we walked from Tokyo Station to Nihonbashi station and took the subway. From the subway station, we still had to walk just shy of a kilometre to the garden. We were cutting it close because Google said that the garden closes at 5 pm and it was already past 4 pm when we got to the station...










We tried to walk faster as it was already approaching 4:30 pm. It was a bit humid and cloudy and we were sweating bullets. We walked and walked and we finally got there, only to find that even though the garden doesn't close until 5 pm the last admission to the garden was at 4:30 pm. We missed it just by 5 minutes!!

Miss Kiki was crushed, but after a bit of convincing she was okay again and we walked back to a JR station.... Our next destination: Harajuku!





Of all the times that I've been to Japan, this was the first time that I went to the famous Harajuku. The main attraction there is Takeshita Dori, the super busy street with many food and fashion items for youngsters. This shopping street is home of a very large Daiso, the world-famous 100-yen store.

We took the JR train to Harajuku Station. It's a very recognisable station from the shape. Right across the station exit lays the Takeshita shopping street. As we crossed over, we could see the sea of people walking to and fro. First, we stopped at Daiso. Even though it was very large, the number of people shopping there made it uncomfortable to shop around. Other Daiso could be a better option, such as the one in Odaiba.





We still had all of our shopping items from Pokemon Centre DX as well as from Tokyo Station with us, and it was getting heavy to carry around. Fortunately we spotted a coin locker area right across from Daiso so we left our belongings there and started walking along Takeshita Dori.

First, we bought Miss Kiki a crepe that we promised her. This street is famous for their crepe options after all...



Grandma decided that she wanted shaved ice cream...










After crepes, we walked over to a Calbee store and bought a few things to take home as well as to eat there. 


From Calbee, we walked further and our noses detected a very inviting smell from a choux store. It was called Zakuzaku and their specialty is a croquantchoux. Grandma went and lined up for a piece (I asked her to just buy one to try, and not get full from one thing) and the choux was delicious! It was definitely worth the calories!!










We walked further to the end of the street, saw many cute food items, and traced back to Harajuku Station. We picked up our stuff at the lockers and rode the train back to Shinjuku area.






In Shinjuku, I chose Ikinari Steak for dinner. I was introduced to this steak chain by a friend and had my first Ikinari experience in Sapporo. Unfortunately, the Shinjuku location is a standing kind. They do not have seats available. Every customer eat while standing. We were so tired from walking and our legs were about to give up, but we didn't want to walk any more to look for another food option. Thus, we caved in and stood for dinner. Steaks were grandma approved. Yay!





After dinner grandma and Miss Kiki went back to the hotel, and I went to Shinjuku Station for a bit to scout coin locker areas to drop our suitcases off at in the morning as we continue our journey to Fuji and Hakone. Please stay tuned for the Fuji Hakone post!




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