Second Stop: Harajuku

Using our JR pass we were able to take the JR line one stop down to Harajuku. We had a tempura lunch at Tenya. D had the full meal set (miso soup, tempura/rice and udon) and I had the tempura/rice bowl which also comes with miso soup. They also served us tea, which was nice.

This was D's favorite meal of the trip! They dip the tempura in sauce before serving, so it wasn't as crispy as I'm used to, but it was very tasty. And filling. And not too expensive. For those who may look for this restaurant, it is on Meiji-dori, just to the north of the Meiji-dori/Omoto-sando intersection. The sign is in Japanese, underneath a yellow "Blitz" sign, across the street from a huge H&M.

We walked down Omoto-sando, which is a nice tree-lined street full of fancy stores. We also stopped in at the temporary location of Kiddyland.

Three stories of kawaii (cute)! Of course, I had to buy a few things there. I really like that bear character on the building, along with Miffy. I even passed up Hello Kitty, since she is much more commonplace in the U.S.

Then we headed back to the station towards Takeshita-Dori, the "Harajuku Girls" hang-out. It wasn't the weekend, so they weren't out in full force, but the fashions were still interesting.


Although not really pictured here, we saw a Rasta girl (full dreadlocks), a bunch of "forest girls" (natural, Heidi-like), Lolitas, etc.

Harajuku is known for their crepes. They even make a Hello Kitty charm with Hello Kitty in a crepe. Needless to say, my expectations were high. There is a rivalry between Angel Heart crepes and Marion crepes, which are right across the street from each other on Takeshita Dori. After some internet research, I decided we should try a crepe from Angel Heart.

Big Disappointment. I guess they make the crepes in the cart, but it was completely cold, and tasted like a prepackaged crepe from the supermarket. There was not too much filling, and it was expensive for what it was. However, this was probably the only time during our trip where our experience did not live up to the hype, so I shouldn't complain.