The first thing we did this morning was go to the Odakyu Travel Center located near the West Exit of the Shinjuku Station. Another plus for our hotel location! We bought a two day free pass that represented a $30 dollar per person savings for all of the Hakone area transportation. We experienced many modes of transportation - next post.
We took a round about way to Harajuku via subway. After exiting the station, we walked up
Omotesando - the main avenue leading to Meiji Jingu Shrine. We made a couple of stops at cosmetic stores (the 6th and 7th visit of the trip!...grrr..). At least Sandra bought something this time. We then spent about an hour at Kiddy Land. Seven or eight floors of toys?? Amazing! What's even more amazing is that I didn't buy anything. Sandra did though. A few gifts for friends. And a picture book about the hamster I won from the skill crane.We left the store at 1pm...quite famished and headed toward our main destination of the afternoon. Mominoki House - a natural food restaurant. The food was REALLY good...especially since we had been assaulting our stomachs the last few days. It was good to get in some whole grains and fresh veggies.
Sandra had the Grilled Tofu served with brown rice and 8 kinds of veggies.
I had the free range chicken served with brown rice and 7 kinds of veggies. The chicken- although thigh meat, required a lot of chewing. It wasn't tough, but it definitely was 'harder' than the chicken found in the US. This was probably 'real' free range chicken, where all that walking toughens up their thigh muscles.
After Mominoki, we walked next door to have the green tea and milk tea ice cream Sandra wrote about. Next, we headed to the main drag of Harajuku - in search of the fabled Harajuku girls. We did see some very dressed up individuals. But it being about 3pm and Saturday (Sunday is the best day to see them), it wasn't as crazy as some of the typical Harajuku images that are published. After walking through throngs of people, I made it a point to get some ramen. It was our last day in Tokyo, and we still didn't have ramen! We stopped in at a place across from the Harajuku JR Train stop. At 6.50 a bowl, this was better than Ramen we've had before. The texture of the noodles were firm, the broth was fresh (obviously, not a packet), and the 'char siu' pork slice was really soft. Sorry, no photos.
After Ramen, we jumped on the JR Line for one stop down to Shibuya. This where the famed 'intersection' is where thousands of people walk across the street at once. Man, there were a lot of people crossing the street! There were many people, just like me, photographing and filming the phenomenon.
We tinkered around Shibuya for a bit - cruising department stores, stopping into a coffee shop for a refreshment, and being tempted by skill crane arcades. At this point, Tokyo started to feel repetitive. Every 'major area' that we went to had 4 elements: tons of people, lots of retail shops, a destination restaurant and arcade banks. As a 1st time Tokyo visitor, the experience of Shibuya vs. Shinjuku felt the same. Left to wander the streets ourselves, and with minimal knowledge of Japanese, we really weren't in the position to 'discover' the amazing experiences that each area potentially offered.
Considering that we had Mominoki, ice cream, and ramen all within a 4 hour time frame, we decided to skip dinner. We headed back to the hotel to pack our luggage. We had an early train to catch the next morning to go to Hakone - a hot spring area near Mt. Fuji.
After Ramen, we jumped on the JR Line for one stop down to Shibuya. This where the famed 'intersection' is where thousands of people walk across the street at once. Man, there were a lot of people crossing the street! There were many people, just like me, photographing and filming the phenomenon.
We tinkered around Shibuya for a bit - cruising department stores, stopping into a coffee shop for a refreshment, and being tempted by skill crane arcades. At this point, Tokyo started to feel repetitive. Every 'major area' that we went to had 4 elements: tons of people, lots of retail shops, a destination restaurant and arcade banks. As a 1st time Tokyo visitor, the experience of Shibuya vs. Shinjuku felt the same. Left to wander the streets ourselves, and with minimal knowledge of Japanese, we really weren't in the position to 'discover' the amazing experiences that each area potentially offered.
Considering that we had Mominoki, ice cream, and ramen all within a 4 hour time frame, we decided to skip dinner. We headed back to the hotel to pack our luggage. We had an early train to catch the next morning to go to Hakone - a hot spring area near Mt. Fuji.
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