12-May, 1000 - As our Japan trip was coming to an end, we decided to spend the last few days visiting the surrounding cities. Our first stop for the day is the Takeshita Street in Harajuku.
Takeshita Street (竹下通り, Takeshita-dōri) is a
pedestrian-only street lined with fashion boutiques, cafes and restaurants in
Harajuku in
Tokyo, Japan. Stores on Takeshita Street include major chains such as
The Body Shop, McDonald's and 7-Eleven, but most of the businesses are small independent shops that carry an array of styles. The shops on this street are often a
bellwether for broader fads, and some are known as "antenna shops," which manufacturers seed with prototypes for test-marketing. [Source: Wikipedia]
Tokyu Plaza, a new shopping mall which opened in April 2012
View of the street from the mall entrance
After our lunch at Harajuku, our next stop is Shibuya.
The famous Shibuya Crossing. It is located in front of the
Shibuya Station Hachikō exit and stops vehicles in all directions to allow pedestrians to inundate the entire intersection. The statue of
Hachikō, a dog, between the station and the intersection, is a common meeting place and almost always crowded. We visited the some of the famous malls in the area such as
Shibuya 109 and
109Men's.
In the evening, we finally reached Akihabara, which is one of the must visit for Japan. Akihabara is a major shopping area for electronic, computer,
anime, and
otaku goods, including new and used items. New items are mostly to be found on the main street, Chūōdōri, with many kinds of used items found in the back streets of Soto Kanda 3-
chōme. New parts for PC-building are readily available from a variety of stores. Tools, electrical parts, wires, microsized cameras and similar items are found in the cramped passageways of Soto Kanda 1-chōme (near the station). Foreign tourists tend to visit the big name shops like Laox or other speciality shops near the station, though there is more variety and lower prices at locales a little further away. Akihabara gained some fame through being home to one of the first stores devoted to personal robots and robotics. [Source: Wikipedia]
The Mandarake - one of
Tokyo's largest vendors of used
anime and manga-related products.
A cafe for Gundam
