Kabukicho

We started the day with ramen from a booth @IchranShibuya. The whole process of food ordering and serving in Japan is fantastic and so efficient. We entered (another) underground restaurant where we placed our order and payment through a machine where we tickets were printed for us. This was a ramen only place and they had chosen to do one thing and do it well! We handed the lady the tickets and she gave us an order sheet where we had options for broth richness, spiciness, garlic content, meat content etc.. There was a panel indicating which seats/booths were currently occupied, free and being freed up. As soon as two were freed up for us, we entered through the typical Japanese half-curtains to our booth(s) which looked much like the prison call booths that you see in movies. There were bamboo blinds in front of each person which would be lifted and your order taken or dish served to you. The kitchen/meal preparation area was literally just on the other side of the blinds.

It turned out to be quite a full day out to Shinjuku, Harajuku and Shibuya. We explored the famous Meiji Jingu (shrine) and wandered through Yoyogi park after strolling through the vibrant and energised streets of Harajuku. In this area there is a very quirky sense of fashion that’s embraced. As in typical Japanese style, there are cafes of all sorts - dog cafe, cat cafe, owl cafe, otter cafe, maid cafe… the list goes on.

We made it to Shibuya crossing aka “The Scramble” at rush hour and watched hoards of people crossing the 6-way crossing at the same time. It’s like a calm chaos that we did not see in the other countries we visited on this trip! The others were just pure chaos. In between the crisscrossing of pedestrians, we’d see Mario carts being driven along the main city streets. Yup, only in Japan is driving a go cart through the city in a Mario (or other cartoon) outfit a tourist attraction!
The Birds Eye view we got from the top of one of the buildings was definitely worth the fee of a single beverage per person!

After this, we went to see Tokyo city at night. Not as lively as Shibuya and Shinjuku as this was mainly the business district. There were loads of restaurants with little/no English on the menu which suggests it was mainly where locals would visit for their evening meals rather than tourists getting the Japanese experience! We settled on Japanese Katsu curry which really hit the spot!Read more