Sunday 12 April 2015

JAPAN 2015 DAY 5: Meiji Shrine & Takeshita Street (Harajuku)

 Saw this abandoned shoe as we were walking to the station?? Haha, everyone kept saying, "this would make a good story".


 Pancakes for breakfast!! This little cafe was near our apartment in Azabujuban ^_^




 First stop of the day: Meiji Shrine!

The pillars are really humongous! Furthermore, they were built over hundreds of years ago - super cool heh!





 Sake became something very important to Japan - if I remember correctly, the explanation was that sake was used to forge friendships between France and Japan! So these decorated sake barrels celebrate all sake brewers in the country :-)

 We were suppose to use this water to cleanse ourselves before entering the shrine area.

( Note to self: DO NOT drink the water, you're suppose to spit it out afterwards :< )



 People can purchase these wooden blocks, on which they write their wishes! It was a very peaceful moment reading different wishes - some were simple; some were for other people, etc.

I still remember one wooden block which was a mother's wish for her daughter's happiness and health. It was really touching :-)





 Chris bought a wooden block and wrote down her wishes!!


 Haha, I really like this person's handwriting!! Gahh~

 I found it cute that the couple was C and J - like Chek and Jaime hehehe~



Sherianne wrote down her wish too!

 The finishing bow for a newly-weds' traditional wedding ceremony!




We managed to walk to the famous Takeshita Street of Harajuku within 10 minutes from Meiji Shrine!

This sight was truthfully slightly terrifying heh.

 We had udon for lunch!! This place really reminds me of Tamoya @ United Square in Singapore haha! I will always miss that humongous fried squid legs~

 More crepe because we are crepe-crazy!!!

 This shop killed me - I really could have bought so much more but I didn't bring out more money that day haha :-( I guess it's good in a way that it controlled my spending :O

 It's so cute how their found a dinosaur head and used it as shop decoration????

Simple dinner - trying out the mayonnaise instant noodles. I was really excited and amused at how the packaging made making the noodles so much easier!! Those holes are for easier draining of the hot water once the noodles are cooked. Seriously, Japan comes up with things nobody thinks about haha!