Before I start with the blog post itself I have to aplogize for it’s length 😉
On our 4th day in Tokyo we finally had a bit of sun. We wanted to take this chance to finally see a bit more of the city itself. On the other hand we had a TODO-List of places we definitively wanted to see.
In the morning we started to go to Harajuku station as we wanted to see Yoyogi Park and Kawaii Monster Cafe. We spent some time in the park visiting a Sake Barrels wall, Minami Gate and Meiji Shrine Honden. As the weather was great this time we enjoyed a lot. First time Tokyo without rain the whole day!
As we had a long list of things to see we skipped all the other interesting parts of Yoyogi Park and just continued to Kawaii Monster Cafe.
Maybe you have heard about this crazy cafe, if not: check it out here! During our stay in Japan this is by far the craziest cafe we’ve seen. It started already in the entrance of it. Okay, you need to pay about 500 ¥ per Person (we were used to already but still is strange for Europeans I think) but it is absolutely worth it.
Inside the cafe we were able to chose an area to sit. You can chose between MUSHROOM DISCO, MILK STAND, Bar Experiment, and Mel-Tea ROOM. We chose the MUSHROOM DISCO. Inside we discovered a carousel which looked like a cake, as you can see on the pictures below.
The menu, the staff (Monster Girls), and the food were as crazy as the first impression. Bianca got a Crazy Burger in blue and I got some pasta in rainbow colors. As dessert I’ve chosen some ice-cream and Bianca a rainbow cake. When the clock reached the full hour the Monster Girls started a show and everyone was invited to join. They danced on top of the carousel. Crazy! We have a video of it but not uploaded yet anywhere. You might find the show somewhere in the web already, but we might update this post with the video in future.
When leaving the cafe I bought a shirt as a souvenir. It is one-size but fortunately it fits quite good.
After our lunch we planned to go on to Asakusa Shrine. On the way to the station we just had a short stop in a shop where we shot the following pictures.
Then we finally reached Asakusa Shrine. We arrived in front of Hōzōmon-Gate. You might have seen this already somewhere. In the middle of the gate is a huge chōchin (red lantern) which you can see on the pictures below.
We passed the gate and went on to Sensō-ji, an ancient buddhist temple.
On the way to the temple you can find a place to clean your mouth and to clean your self with kind of incense. Right there you can buy incense sticks and burn them to participate the ritual so to say. Of course we did. Please keep in mind that the swastika on the picture below is an auspicious symbol in Hinduism, Buddhism, and Jainism.
We didn’t shot any image from the inside of the temple as it is not allowed. And as we were visitors and no believing parts of their religion we strictly follow the rules. On the pictures below you can see the view we had from the temple in direction to Hozōmon-gate.
Outside of the temple (when you are heading to public transport) you will walk along Nakamise-dōri where you will find quite some souvenirs and delicious sweets. Unfortunately we missed to shot a picture of it 😉
From nearby the Asakusa shrine you have a nice view on Tokyo Sky Tree. Which we’d planned to visit as well.
As time passed by quite fast we continued our tour to Akihabara. So we went back to the train station we were had the chance to see a Mikoshi (a carriable Shintō shrine).
In the early evening we arrived in Tokyo’s cultural center and a shopping district for video games, anime, manga, and computer goods: Akihabara. It was kind of a paradise to visit the dozens of stores and I believe we haven’t seen the craziest areas there. But we saw almost everything, starting from video game consoles and their games, to merchandise for any kind of comic and manga to mini figures of dragons. Of course we’ve seen as well tons of household electronics.
Unfortunately, we had still plenty of things on our list for this day so we had to hurry to our next stop: a Japanese Cat Cafe! Yes! We’ve visited a cat cafe in Berlin, Helsinki, as well one in Miyajima. But we wanted to see at least one cat cafe within Tokyo! We were looking the day before for some good ratings of cat cafes and one that was kind of in the area we planned to visit. I can’t remember the name of the cafe itself.
To enter the cafe we had to pay kind of an entrance fee. Within we could order some drinks like Coke and Water. It is definitively different from the cat cafes we knew from Berlin and Helsinki. We couldn’t order cake or something like this. Seems to be what you have to expect from a Japanese cat cafe. Do you have different experiences? Let us know what is your favorite cat cafe in the comments section.
If I remember correctly we spent about 1 hour there before we headed to our final stop: Tokyo Sky Tree. We already visited some observation decks during our Japan tour: Fukuoka Tower, Tsutenkaku in Osaka, Roppongi Hills, and Tokyo Tower. Still, Sky Tree was definitively a must see for us. Due to the bad weather we decided to go there during evening to see the city lights. We haven’t thought about that our cameras are not good enough to make beautiful pictures during night… Nevertheless we want to share the pictures we have.
When we arrived to Sky Tree there were only couple of minutes left until the entrance would be closed. Thus, we were really lucky and happy of course to still make it. Within Sky Tree there are 4 elevators. Each with a different style. We do not have a nice picture of them to share, sorry.
When we arrived on the first level of the observation deck (tembo deck) on the 350th floor, we queued in for taking a picture. It was nice that they offer to take a picture with your camera as well. That’s why we posted it here 😉
For an extra fee you can actually go up to the tembo gallery which is a walkway that goes up from 445th floor to 450th floor. They offer you a photo service where the pictures look like as they would have been shot from the outside of the tower. Really cool!
I don’t remember how much time we spent on the observation deck, but when we arrived on the ground again all the stores already were closed. At the outside of Sky Tree we found a Ghibli store – which was closed as well! So we decided that we have to come back the next day during a time the stores would have opened.
Well, it is already so long time ago that I am not able to recall all details of the day. One of the issues of not writing posts right away. But anyways, this is what happened on that day!
I hope you enjoyed the – well way too long – post. Let us know what you think about it in the comments section.
Stay tuned for our last post of our Japan tour “soon”.
KURAMU on TOUR 