wan life to live: oh so kawaii

our activity for the next day was a kawaii-themed food tour in harajuku. google maps came in clutch again as i plotted out our transportation and then we headed on out.

this was the bean’s daily ritual - stopping at any random vending machine on the street to grab their new favorite drink. i made sure to take this so that when we got home, hopefully we’d be able to find it in one of our local asian grocery stores.

another day, another train.

the station was a super easy walk to takeshita street, one of the most famous shopping streets in japan. here you can find all kinds of shops selling fun, colorful clothing and lots of delicious sweets and treats. we were really excited to see what we’d get to sample on our food tour.

it was still fairly early, so it wasn’t super crowded and a lot of the sweet shops weren’t open yet.

i know it can be a polarizing view, but i love yoshinoya. and i’d heard that in japan it’s a thousand times more delicious than what we have at home, so i made a mental note to stop here for a meal later on.

our meeting point with our tour guide was here, at the nescafé shop. we’d gotten there pretty early though, so after walking over to see where it was located we went back to takeshita street to do a little more exploring.

we browsed through a few fun clothing and accessories shops and then when we spied this, we immediately walked in.

there were rows and rows of gachapon machines ranging in price from 100 to 500 yen, and it was fun to walk up and down the aisles to see the different items in each one.

a dog cafe! we didn’t have time for it at that moment, but i took this in the hopes of being able to return to it later.

we headed back to nescafé to meet up with our guide and the rest of our group (who turned out to also be from southern california), and then it was time to start our tour. as we started walking, we spied this group of tourists on a go-karting tour. they looked like they were having a blast, but we hadn’t gotten international driving permits before leaving home so it wasn’t a possibility for us - this time, anyway.

as we entered takeshita street with the group, we glanced up at the sign and the camera had been turned on. it’s hard to see, but we’re there on the bottom right.

the first stop on our tour was at maccha house, away from the hustle and bustle of takeshita street, one floor above uniqlo harajuku. confession: i’m not a huge matcha fan, but i was willing to give it another try while we were here. and this spot is known for their matcha tiramisu which sounded intriguing. we were allowed to order any one item from the menu, so the bean ordered it while i opted for the seasonal strawberry version. now you know i don’t typically do fruit, but i took a chance here and i was glad that i did. it was light, fluffy and delicious - with no big chunks of strawberry! win!

just down the street from here was this amazing building that boasts a gorgeous rooftop garden. it wasn’t part of our tour, but it was pretty impressive to look at from across the street.

we did go up these stairs to get a better view, though.

we got to enjoy something savory at our next stop. when i tried translating this sign, google told me it said “sushi restaurant pork egg rice balls.” i mean…i guess that’s pretty much what it was, minus the sushi.

spam, eggs and rice wrapped in seaweed - can’t go wrong.

we walked along cat street then - and while there were no actual cats anywhere to be found, after a little digging i learned that they were more referencing catwalks here because this is where you find lots of trendy clothing shops. and we stopped in this candy shop for some treats to try and take home.

at the end of cat street, we turned a corner and found ourselves standing in front of a familiar sight - our favorite hawaiian coffee shop.

there were lots of luxury shops here too, and we climbed up the stairs to cross a bridge that went right over the street.

we walked through this area that was much quieter than both takeshita and cat streets on our way to more food.

as we headed to sakura tei, we walked past the design festa gallery where we were invited to pick up markers and add a little artwork to the wall.

this is where we got to sit down at the grill and make our own okonomiyaki - a japanese pancake with veggies and meat and then covered in a delicious savory sauce and a drizzle of kewpie mayo.

i surprised myself with how much i enjoyed it, and that thing was really filling. on our way out of there, we passed these little booths that were designated spots for smokers. it would be cool to have these at home, but can you imagine the speed at which these would be completely ruined by careless assholes?

and even though we were stuffed from okonomiyaki, we headed into yurinan for yet another sweet treat. here we got to choose from more than 30 different varieties of dorayaki - kind of a pancake sandwich filled with all kinds of stuff from custard to whipped cream to red bean paste to japanese omelettes.

at our last stop, we got to pick props to pose for silly pictures in a fun photo booth in a shop on takeshita street.

after saying goodbye to our group, we continued to wander around the area to see what else there was. we found a fjallkraven store where the bean decided they wanted a cute new backpack for school, and chose a cute little design to be embroidered on the front. there was an hour wait for the customization to be done which gave us lots of time to keep walking off all of the snacks we’d eaten. of course, we just kept finding more stuff to eat and drink.

this place had had a really long line when we saw it earlier in the day, and even hours later there were crowds waiting to go into what we now know is the most popular donut shop in japan.

i’d been eyeing this in the vending machines whenever the bean would get their iced cocoa drink, so i decided to finally give it a shot. it’s very bubbly and quite refreshing.

this was listed as the best lobster roll in tokyo - but we have this at home so i passed on it.

we did, however, come back here for island lattes. it was located on an upper floor with a great view of the street down below, and it was really nice to sit and relax while we sipped on our coffees and peoplewatched from our vantage point.

i’d heard that the universal studios in japan is really cool, but it’s really far away from tokyo and we didn’t have time for a visit this time around. so i settled for browsing around this universal studios store instead. i didn’t buy anything, but it was still fun to look around.

once we’d picked up the bean’s new backpack, we headed to kura for some sushi. i’d scored us a reservation, so we didn’t have to wait too long for a table even though there were a ton of people in the waiting area.

all of the accoutrements were tucked away in these little cubbies in the middle of the tables. and the booths had curtains around them for privacy.

the bean dreams about this fresh mango. apparently, it’s the best mango they’ve ever had in their entire life.

i couldn’t get over how cheap it was here - we spent about $37 for dinner.

before we got back on the train to ginza, we stopped at kiddy land. it was highly recommended by our tour guide, and it was four floors of all kinds of toys - pokémon, sanrio, snoopy, disney - you name it, it was there.