Tokyo day 1

Tokyo day 1

After a long day yesterday, we had a late start in the morning. By lunchtime, we headed out to explore Tokyo. We got sorted with our Japan Rail tickets, and booked seats on the Shinkansen for tomorrow. Robin met a little dog and though he was very funny looking.

Our first stop today was the “pedestrian scramble” at Shibuya. It’s sort of like Times Square in New York, with lots of electronic billboards and a huge pedestrian crossing. I had to change my top, so strategically got undressed and dressed again here!

Next, we went to find a cat cafe, but unfortunately they don’t allow babies. We had also read about an Owl cafe, with real Owls, so planned to head there after lunch. We found a really nice French restaurant for lunch. Robin ate some of my potato soup and some of Peter’s potato and gravy.

Our next stop was Meiji Shrine in the Harajuku area. The ornate shrine gate was unfortunately covered up for maintenance, so it didn’t have the “wow” factor we’d hoped for. We visited an iris garden shaped like a flowing river, that was just finishing flowering for the season. Then we found a clear spring. The park also had a Lotus pond, with koi fish that would jump out do the water! Robin was very interested in the Koi fish, more so than the yellow lotuses. After a breastfeed and a nappy change, we headed to the owl cafe, only to find that they also didn’t allow babies.

Next we went to Takeshita, where teenagers love to shop for outrageous outfits. We shared a crepe and Robin had a taste of chocolate moose. Yum! Harajuku district was next, and we walked around the streets looking at the shops and art displays. There was quite a bit of installation art for Robin to look at.

For dinner, we went to a shabu shabu restaurant, which was very traditional. We had to take off our shoes and were sitting a a low table. Shabu shabu is a big pot of boiling water, that you use to cook thin pieces of meat and vegetables in, at the table. It was quite fancy, and Robin behaved himself for the most part. He really liked the sesame seed sauce that came with the meal.

After dinner, we had a look at a clothing shop, UniQlo, and bought s couple of things. By this stage, it was close to 10:30pm, so it was back to the hotel and bedtime for us!