Day 6: Harajuku

After several unsuccessful attempts to wake Abe, Martin and I went to the local Starbucks to caffeinate me and plan our day. Martin showed off his basic Japanese as I nodded mutely beside him, a pre-caffeine zombie. After chugging coffee and inhaling a chocolate chip scone, I became useful and suggested Harajuka, Tokyo's famously crazy shopping district. Martin agreed, so we stopped by the apartment to pick up Abe.

Our time in Harajuku is better explained with pictures than with words. Needless to say, the shopping was completely insane.

I had an interesting experience in the dressing room at one particular store, in which the salesperson tried to put a paper bag over my face without my consent. What I took as attempted murder was actually the way that Japanese stores prevent makeup from getting on clothes when girls try things on. I let her know that I wasn't wearing makeup and she bowed several times and left me in peace, taking her paper bag with her. 

 

We paused for lunch at a recommended Chinese restaurant, where a nice Japanese man helped us navigate the menu and sent a dessert to our table (almond tofu pudding) with his regards. Our only mishap was asking for the food to not be hot (spicy) and instead receiving a spicy cold chicken dish.

After lunch we resumed our shopping.

We stopped at a famous chips place, where they serve chips drizzled with chocolate. We were more impressed with the decorations than with the chips.

After a long day of shopping (including an hour in which I abandoned the boys in  order to get real shopping done) we headed to Meiji Shrine, a Shinto shrine dedicated to the Emperor Meiji and his wife, Empress Shoken. The shrine's trees were donated from all over Japan and placed in the shrine.

                                       

Sake offerings at the shrine

Nervous about what looked like massive storm clouds, we went back to the apartment and got ready for dinner. We went to a sushi restaurant in Roppongi Hills, a fancy mall in the neighboring district to our apartment. We removed our shoes and sat in a booth through which the sushi conveyer belt  passed. This was incredibly exciting to me, and I was totally entranced by the passing food. The pricing at these restaurants works by color of plate, and at the end of the meal the servers count up how many and which kind of plates you've accumulated.  

                                     

After dinner we stopped by McDonalds, where Abe had a hamburger and a shrimp burger--local McDonalds fare in Japan. I had a tiny McFlurry, just one example of the small portions we've been getting used to on this trip. A McFlurry in the US would easily be three times the size of the one I was given. 

Following McDonalds we spent some time wandering Roppongi unsuccessfully, looking for a place to get a drink, before returning back to the apartment.