Blogs from Harajuku, Tokyo, Japan, Asia
Hanami in Tokyo: Viewing people viewing cherry blossoms
Published: April 9th 2012Asia » Japan » Tokyo » Harajuku
April 8th 2012
This past weekend was full of Tokyo and cherry blossom viewing (known as hanami in Japanese). What started as an emperor's private party under the sakura (cherry blossom) trees hundreds of years ago, eventually evolved into a national tradition of celebration involving copious amounts of alcohol, food, and friends. The sakura only remain in bloom for two weeks, so once they arrive, people gather for a picnic of epic proportions amidst the snowy branches of their favorite park. We decided to stroll through the large Shinjuku Park during our Tokyo wanderings on Saturday to peek at the renowned collection of sakura located there. This park does not allow the consumption of alcohol on the premises, but many people still gathered to picnic. I was floored by the sheer amount of people and their tasty looking bento ... read more
January 23rd 2012
During the winter break my friend, Barbara, and I went to Harajuku. Unfortunately, we didn’t see any people dressed up…probably because it was freezing cold that day. But! There were people giving out free hugs, and according to some other people, they are usually always there giving out hugs. We went to Meiji Shrine before heading to the shopping area. The Meiji Shrine is the most important shrine in Tokyo (according to my travel guide book) and it dates back to 1920. Compared to the other shrines I’ve been to the Meiji shrine may be the largest one I’ve seen so far. I was able to witness another wedding ceremony while I was visiting it. Also, while walking up to the shrine (which is quite a long path) there is a large wall of sake barrels. ... read more
November 21st 2010
The Meiji Jungu (Shrine) and Harajuku are amazing. I'm so glad we visited both of these places. We were there on a day that children dressed up in traditional clothing, as did their parents for a traditional Shinto ceremony. Takeshito Dori is amazing at night - alive with lots of people and very bright!... read more
September 11th 2010
Today was a great day. After going on a run, I attempted to do laundry (somewhat unsuccessfully), talked with my family, spent time with Bridgette in Tokyo, and took a lovely walk. Harajuku: After getting off the train at Harajuku, Bridgette introduced me to the famous Harajuku Bridge. This is were the infamous Harajuku girls, come dressed to impress, and hang out with their friends. Unfortunately, there weren't any girls hanging out there, today. I did find some Harajuku girls, later though! Meiji Jingu: This shrine was built in 1920 for the Emperor Meiji. While some people could be seen participating in religious rituals, tourist made up a great deal of those present. I washed my hands in the Temple Well, before entering the temple complex. Within the entrance, there were two places to hang your ... read more
July 4th 2010
So as not to break tradition, we decided to go to Andersens for breakfast. We wandered around Tokyo station for a bit where we found a shop selling mochi creams, the most beautiful delicacy on the planet. That's what mel says anyway. Mochi cream is a soft ball of pounded sticky rice which is flavoured with an ice cream filling. They are sold frozen and are best enjoyed thawed for 30 minutes. They weren't melted, but this lets the rice layer soften, making it a chewy texture on the outside with a soft creamy centre. So good. Mel had sakura flavour (cherry blossom) and I had matcha (green tea). Our rail trip to Harajuku was conveniently 30 minutes long, so we stood outside the train station and enjoyed our mochi creams before tackling the shops. If ... read more
May 22nd 2010
Today we did not have a lecture but went straight for the cultural sights. We went to Harajuku and Meiji Jinku shrine. We didn't get to see to much of the town. But we saw the shrine. It is a shrine to Emperor Meiji who instituted the Meiji Restoration which forever changed Japan. While there we saw a wedding procession in typical Japanese style, Kimono's and all. After that we went to a Rugby game of the Japan National team versus Hong Kong. Japan annihilated Hong Kong and is on it's way to the world cup in New Zealand 2011. After that we went back to the hotel and went to a place for all you can eat and drink. It was fun... but calm... read more
October 18th 2009
WOOOOOOOOO fun day! I have officially fallen in love with everything about japan.. from the culture, to the place itself, to the style! I have so far not seen one japanese person dressed badly, every girl is in heels! it is my mission to become as fabulously dressed as them. Today is Sunday and we went to Harajuku! On Sundays japanese girls dress in doll outfits in Harajuku, Im not entirely sure why but they e such cute outfits. So this place is incredible... in terms of shopping.. it is every girls dream! Sky high buildings and endless roads of all the best brands and shops. We went into Topshop and H&M and I could not believe how expensive they were! crazzzzzzzzzyyyyyyyyyy. My favourite part of Harajuku was this one long narrow road completely full of ... read more
July 27th 2009
(1) Pictures: Harijuku and a park in southwest Tokyo. There's a video also. (2) An unrelated story: You meet people all the time on this sort of trip - many for just a conversation. This one black (yes, it's relevant to the story) girl I met while working on Yalla on one of the hostel computers, for example. She told me that she'd been working in northern Honshu (that's the big middle island) for the last year teaching English to kids. "How did you find it? How were the kids" I asked her. She smiled like she knew why I asked, "that's the thing, kids are kids, anywhere. They were so rowdy and I had trouble controlling them. None of the other teachers controlled them either." We talked about how hard it can be travelling and ... read more
Sushi, Onsen and people-watching in Yoyogi Park
Published: August 20th 2009Asia » Japan » Tokyo » Harajuku
July 12th 2009
After dancing all night we slept until lunchtime. I decided I couldn't leave Japan without ticking "Eat sushi in Tokyo" off my bucket list, so we had lunch at a sushi train restaurant. I decided to be brave and tried a few kinds that were new to me. I was lucky I hadn't drunk much at the club because the big fish eggs that burst fishy oil into your mouth when you bit them were a challenge. I only embarrassed myself once in a minor chopstick-related incident that left my favourite tempura prawn sushi skidding across the floor. It was about 3pm by the time we took the metro to Harajuku. I hoped to see lots of teenagers in their crazy get-ups, and we saw a few lolita's and cosplayers on Jingu Bridge. There was a ... read more
June 30th 2009
We were up at about 8am today. Good for us. We had breakfast downstairs in our hotel. A japanese take on a western breakfast. Interesting. You take your food on your plate then on a tray to eat at your table. When finished they clear your tray. Although it was "buffet" we seemed to be the only ones going back for more. Today was for Bec to have a look at a few different neighbourhoods in Tokyo and use the language. Firstly we were going to go to the Japanese Government building in Shinjuku where there is a free observation deck. But the weather was overcast with fine mist rain that we gave it a miss. We were having some mobile phone issues which Justin sorted and we headed to the Isetan department store for the ... read more
