Shibuya Archives - Wander Wonder Wonton

I woke up early and finished packing my bags ready for Seiji to collect me with our rental car ready to go exploring for the day.

I headed to the supermarket to get some baked goods as I was too lazy to go the full distance to the bakery. I ended up with weird pancakes with goopy stuff in the middle and little sugared raisin toast squares. They were nice but very sweet.

Seiji was waiting for me when I got back and we hit the road. First stop Yokohama. Took a while to get on the motorway and I noticed all the trees looked a but weird – all stumpy. After the earthquake they cut off all the branches because they all fell down in the middle of the road and blocked it. And I thought they were just trying something interesting!

Once on the highway it was an easy path to Yokohama just a few toll stops. Yokohama is about an hour out of Tokyo and a really popular place to visit and live.

Seiji took me straight to Chinatown and his fave park. Chinatown stretches out about 5×5 blocks. It’s huge! Seiji couldn’t even understand anything as they were all speaking Chinese. We walked the streets trying different food and watching all the people. Eventually Seiji found somewhere he thought we should eat – a tiny place with 850¥ ($8.50aud) set meals. The plates just kept coming! Starting with some kind of weird thing that tasted like mustard, then Chinese Gyoza, fried rice, pork noodle soup and a coconut jelly & fruit dessert. I loved the soup, beautiful broth. So cheap!

With a full tummy we grabbed Starbucks to walk around the park. This is Seiji’s fave park and its a beautiful area. It was built from the rubble after a big earthquake they had in the 1950’s. We were so full we didn’t last long walking around so we went on a driving tour then back to Tokyo.

Shibuya was the next stop. After finding a park (they do valet parking for 300¥ an hour in the city!) we went for a walk to a shop Seiji knew was good for gifts then tried to walk to Harajuku. We went by a huge old park but decided to go around it to get to Harajuku with more time. We got lost. I really enjoy getting lost when I don’t need to be anywhere. It’s fun. You see things you wouldn’t usually.

Harajuku meant shopping so I had a look around while Seiji chilled outside. He doesn’t like stocking shopping that much for some reason? Lol.

Back to get the car to drop it off in Shibuya before a casual dinner and to take my bus to the airport.

This is about the time I realised I was about to miss my flight and I had the most intense and crazy taxi ride of my life!!! Read more HERE

Fast and the furious: Tokyo Taxi edition (rachaelscrazyworld.com)
Tokyo: Day Four (rachaelscrazyworld.com)
Tokyo: Day one (rachaelscrazyworld.com)
Tokyo: Day Five (rachaelscrazyworld.com)

Would you believe it’s only 2.45pm and I have already had a nap?

After a broken sleep – there were sirens all morning and I had no idea what they were saying over the loud speakers, I tried to nap more but didn’t succeed. They could have been yelling to put our rubbish out or to evacuate – I wouldn’t know!

So! I made like the Japanese and took a nap in a public place. I had made it to SkyTree Town – the mall part that accompanies the 634m Sky Tree Tower. And I was stuffed. I could barely open my eyes so I simply sat down in one of the many rest areas, set my alarm for 30mins and closed my eyes!

To be honest I kind of had two naps. I read there was a Konica Minolta Planetarium here and was really keen to check it out. When I enquired it turns out you can only watch the movies in there in Japanese. After mucking around I bit I decided to check it out anyway. Glad I did! Chairs were super comfy and recline able and the planetarium was amazing. No idea what I watched but a few times I had to shut my eyes as it felt like I was in a simulator and I felt a bit ill. Convenient place to nap with noone knowing AND only 1000¥ or $10aud!

Waited in line to go up the tower for a bit but they kept stopping the lifts as it is so windy in Tokyo today and a safety issue. I really just wanted to see Mt Fuji and considering the weather it wasn’t gonna be possible.

For breakfast I stopped into a bakery (most delicious bakeries ever!) and had some kind of sweet bread with cheese, bacon and onion… At least that’s what it looked like.

I was after a snack & passed a Gyoza shop so jumped in and ordered a plate of 4. They come out an they are JUMBO Gyoza. Massive!!! I could hardly eat two but felt disrespectful so forced down a third.

Lunch consisted of tatoyaki – octopus balls. You add your own sauces which was great as I skipped the yucky bonito flakes try always put on them. Impatient as I am, I managed to burn, blister and peel the roof of my mouth before I even left the eatery. Must learn to wait for my food to cool down.

After that I felt dessert was needed so it was crepe time! Gem & I loved the crepes last time we were here and even with my lactose intolerance I somehow manage to do okay with them. Today’s pick was banana, fake cream and chocolate mmmm.

I took a train to Asakusa thinking I was meeting Seiji there but his meeting is going longer than we thought.
I had a wonder around the Ebu markets and visited the oldest Temple in Tokyo, Sensoji Temple. I happily ticked some gift items off in the markets and surrounding shops too.

Currently on a train to Shibuya where I will kill an hour people watching and shopping before meeting Seiji for dinner.

HOLY WOWSERS I LOVE SHIBUYA!! Such an awesome place! I went straight to Shibuya 109, a popular mall there and I could have bought nearly everything! Loved the place! Could hardly drag myself away to meet Seiji.

Glad I did though, he took me for a Japanese BBQ, and it was soo good! We had pork and beef – cooked by Seiji on our personal BBQ and a cabbage salad with a sesame dressing. Also had some cold ramen noodles that I was quite impressed with. Thank goodness I have Seiji to take me to the local places and order for me. I had some sakè but my rash popped up on my neck that I get from allergies so had to flag it.

We were gonna go to a ramen place but I was far too full. Instead we went for a walk around and retired early home as we have a big day tomorrow.