Now that I had completed Tokyo Day 1 blog entry, here comes my Tokyo Day 2. Day 2 is not as packed as Day 1 as we played by ear. As we were both knackered on Day 1, Sister and I decided to sleep in until we wake up naturally. Our breakfast was the food which we bought from Lawson the night before. After we were done getting ready, we took the Metro to meet May and Yoshi-san.
Can’t remember where we met but it was at a Metro station and we had our lunch somewhere nearby. Lunch was at a Japanese restaurant serving chicken dishes with half cooked scrambled egg on the top. Pricing was reasonable but there was a condition whereby no sharing is allowed. Everyone have to order a main course.
This was really good and the half cooked scrambled egg was runny and creamy. There was no raw taste at all. According to Sister, she had once tried something similar in Shanghai but the egg was a lot drier than this. Well, you might not want to have half cooked egg in China.
After lunch, May left us for Pilates while Yoshi-san brought us around nearby. It was drizzling that day. So, we cancelled Yoyogi Park and headed to Meiji Shrine instead. Due to the weather, Meiji Shrine was not that crowded. There were not much tourists, mostly Japanese.
We were fortunate enough to encounter three newlyweds conducting their wedding ceremonies. It was a public holiday in Japan that day. First day of autumn, if I am not wrong. I guess that was one of the reasons why they chose to have their wedding ceremony on that day.
These are Camphor trees, planted in 1920 during the enshrinement of Meiji Shrine. They are known as “Meoto Kusu” or “Husband and Wife” in English. It is a symbol of happy marriage and harmonious life within the family.
You can buy a piece of this wooden plate for like 500円, I think. Write down your wish on the wooden plate and hang it on the designated hooks with the rest of other wooden plates.
This was the second couple whom we encountered for the day. We wondered how much a set of kimono costs in Japan. According to Yoshi-san, kimono rental alone can cost up to 30 to 50 grand. Goodness!
After we were done at Meiji Shrine, we left and headed towards Harajuku Takeshita Street. There were nothing much which caught our fancy there but we got ourselves a crepe from Angels Heart to share.
There is another crepe shop opposite to Angels Heart called Marion Crepes. We did not try that one as this Angels Heart was highly recommended by one of the Malaysian bloggers. We intended to try out their specialty crepe at first but decided to stick with Matcha Ice-cream & Matcha Cheesecake Crepe in the end.
Queuing time at Angel Hearts was a bit long as the Cashier had to attend both counters. However, it only took them a short while to prepare our crepe after we placed our order.
My overly enthusiastic expression when I got to try out their crepe. It has been a long time since I last had one. The ones that I always came across were the savory crispy ones which I am not at all a fan of unless I am in the mood.
Matcha Ice-Cream with Matcha Cheesecake Crepe | 590円
matcha (green tea) ice-cream, matcha cheesecake, matcha powder, white chocolate, whipped cream
Both Sister and I agreed that the Matcha ice-cream was good but the cheesecake lacked Matcha taste but it had distinctive cheese taste though. Texture wise, both were creamy and smooth. Portion of whipped cream was overly generous in my opinion.
We did not stay long at Takeshita Street as May was waiting for Yoshi-san at another Metro Station. We parted at the Metro Station. So, Sister and I ventured the city on our own. We took the Metro to Shibuya Station as Sister wanted to look for the Hachiko Statue. Before I went to Tokyo, I had no idea what was the hype of Hachiko Statue all about until I watched Hachi, a movie by Richard Gere.
Before leaving Shibuya Station, we came across this shop selling Matcha pancakes with fillings of Adzuki beans and Mochi.
Spirulina Soybean Milk
This was something new for me as I never encountered anything similar to this before. It tasted refreshing and it was not sweet. I only had a few sips but it was good. It makes a good thirst quencher on a hot day.
Matcha Pancake with Adzuki beans fillings & Mochi | 220円
This was Shibuya crossing and I took it from inside Shibuya Station. This was not as crowded as compared to some of the pictures which I had seen of Shibuya crossing. After witnessing the Shibuya crossing, Sister and I left the station to look for Hachiko Statue. It took us quite some time before we were able to locate the statue. Japanese are extremely helpful when we asked them for directions. But due to the language barrier, we were often being misdirected. LOL!
We looked for a dinner place after we were done at Hachiko Statue. We did not have any preferential restaurant in mind. So, we looked for a ramen place as I was craving for ramen at the time. So, we picked a restaurant that is pocket friendly to us as we still had two days in Tokyo.
北海道らーめん味源熊祭おくむら
150-0042, Shibuya, Udagawacho, 24−6, 渋ビルヂング2階, Tokyo, Japan
Gyoza | 300円
Miso Ramen | 830円
The broth was not as thick and flavorful as compared to the one we had the day before at Rokurinsha but I preferred this one better. Both Sister and I shared this as we do not want to feel all bloated. Portion was big enough for two. After finishing our dinner, the both of us shopped nearby. We went into Forever 21 and I managed to get what Jia requested me to buy for her.
We had an incident that day. Sister almost lost her mobile phone on that particular evening. She left her phone inside the toilet cubicle of the washroom at Shibuya Station. She only realized that when we were on the Metro heading back to our hotel. She could not find her phone. So, we alighted at the next station and returned to Shibuya Station.
We returned to the washroom and her mobile phone was no longer there. So, we looked for a Lost & Found counter. It took us multiple trips before we got to the right one as the first officer whom we approached directed us to the wrong Lost & Found counter. The right one was just in front of us all the time.
Thankfully, the lady who went into the toilet cubicle after Sister handed over the phone to the nearest Lost & Found counter. That was one of the good things which I like about Tokyo. You do not have to worry about losing things as the next Japanese person who picked it up will hand it over to the nearest Lost & Found counter. So whoever this Japanese lady is, thank you so much for your kindness!
Coming up soon – Tokyo Disneyland!
DAILY SNIPPETS OF LIFE 