Japan - Tokyo - Okinawa | My travel report: Hachikō, Shibuya, Harajuku, Meiji Shrine and the Skytree alternative Chōsha

Hallo Steemians,

Two years ago I was in Japan with my family for 14 days. My in-laws were there, too. My father-in-law comes from Russia and did his military service in Vladivostok, since then he dreams of visiting Japan. For him, it was a long dream come true. And for us it was such a nice experience that we definitely want to go there again. Already for the reason that we only looked at Tokyo, a little surrounding area and Okinawa, the country has so much more to offer. It is very clean and really beautiful, the Japanese are friendly and very disciplined and I would like to bring you closer to a small series of different places we have visited there and wish you a lot of fun.

All pictures are of course clickable and will be enlarged.

Prologue

The fifth day of the Japan trip is just around the corner and has five destinations within Tokyo ready for us. That's right, there are five of them, but they are quite stress-free and that with two small children. Basically, the Japanese are polite and courteous. They love small children and men in particular are much more open to children here, as is often the case in our latitudes. All today's destinations are only a few metro stations away from each other, which minimizes the stress at a temperature of 32 degrees in August.

Hachikō, Shibuya, Harajuku, Meiji Shrine and the Skytree alternative Chōsha

Hachikō

Perhaps some of you have seen the film with Richard Gere. Yes, it's about the dog and that the story is true. However, it is a Japanese story that took place in Tokyo in the 1920s and 1930s. The dog had walked to the same place at the station for years after the sudden death of his master and waited for him to come home from work where he always welcomed him. Faithfulness in definition!

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Statue of Hachikō at the Shibuya Station which takes us directly to the next sight.

Shibuya crossroads

This crossroads is known from movies all over the world, here 15000 people pass the crossroads at the rush hour at the same time and that from different directions. We were there about 11 o'clock and there was already a lot going on for one working day.

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You can see pictures from the Starbucks at the crossroads and also directly how we are standing at it, it seems as if you compete against an arm.

Harajuku Takeshita-dori

Here in this crazy shopping street, there is everything that makes the heart of a cosplayer beat faster. In the street embedded in the surrounding skyscrapers, all hell breaks loose, as you can see, even at noon during the week. But like almost everywhere in Tokyo. To the culinary offers which consist mainly of sweets (ice cream, waffles and cotton candy) there are some 100 yen shops where you will definitely find bargains.

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As you can see, there are plenty of bizarre things to find here and even for the dear four-legged friends the cosplay should not come too short. I hear there's a lot of people in costumes out here this weekend. That'd be a lot funnier.

Meiji-Schrein

From Harajuku station, where we already got off for the shopping street, the Meiji Shrine is only a few 100 meters away. At least the entrance to the park where the temple is located. It is not allowed to eat here, except in a certain area of the temple, but this is forbidden in the rest of the park. In the temple there is a pictorial record in which almost 1 to 1 the history of Last Samurai is to be seen at least the part in which the Japanese reject Western culture and decide to go their own way and link this with your old values, simply fascinating

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We witnessed a ceremony here at the shrine. The park is really an oasis in this pulsating metropolis that never stands still. You could forget you're in the middle of the city. Simply a place of relaxation.

The Tokyo Metropolitan Government Building or Tōkyō-to Chōsha

The building is really an insider tip and with a height of 243 meters you have a great view of the surrounding districts. Contrary to the Skytree it costs here not a cent to drive up to the observation deck. There is a souvenir shop and a restaurant. Don't let the guards at the entrance put you off, they are very nice when you get close to the building. And these masses waiting at the Skytree are also bypassed here, waiting time 2-5 minutes and you can already enjoy the view.

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Unfortunately it was a bit steamy so clear pictures were not so easy to take. But still beautiful as I think.

Dinners

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Here you can still see how we dined in a nearby restaurant in the evening, mainly a Tonkatsu restaurant, the classic Japanese schnitzel, very tender and delicious. I hope you enjoyed it again and soon there will be more of my trip. Be curious about the legendary fish market.

Thanks for reading my little report.

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cya
Markus

Photos: Made by me! © 2018
Device: Panasonic DMC-FZ62