Hedgehogs in Harajuku

We woke to a rainy, grey morning and went in search of breakfast way earlier than the Japanese were prepared to feed us. So after scouring the local area we landed at Denny’s - which actually had very little resemblance to its American cousin. Bad pancakes and tasteless coffee made for an inauspicious start to the holiday.

We walked the 10 minutes to the Asakusa station with little idea of what is usually sold behind the locked up shops we passed. I made a mental note to let everyone sleep in tomorrow.

Despite the rain, we took the train to Harajuku - the girls were so excited to explore that area, and they loved everything about it from the moment they set eyes on Takeshita Street. The vintage clothes, the socks, the elaborate crepes, the pretty goth - they loved it all. After a couple of hours, Mitch and I began to flag and moved the girls on a bit faster.

By the time we got to Line Friends - a cute shop recommended by Dani - we were all in need of food that didn’t contain sugar. I should have known better but left it too late to plan limit and so we ended up at a decidedly inauthentic Mexican fast food.

Next stop - Harry’s Hedgehog Cafe on the 4th floor of an office building where we all paid to sit and interact with hedgehogs for half an hour. It was a fun, cute and novel experience and the kids had a great time.

By the time we left our prickly friends it had topped raining and we walked towards Shibuya, heading to the first floor of the Starbucks at the crossing to watch and film the hoards. While we were there Jason Ellenport called recommending a traditionally Japanese restaurant for dinner. We were all flagging badly but decided to stay in town until the restaurant opened.

The kids decided to sit on the floor in keeping with the traditional Japanese atmosphere - and we found pretty quickly how uncomfortable this is. But the dinner - of sashimi, noodles, grilled fish and chicken was excellent.

We had just enough energy to make our way back to the station and the hotel to relax for a couple of hours before bed.Read more