Next stop: Roppongi Hills, an upper-crust place in the fancy Roppongi area. We wanted to have breakfast at a place called Eggcellent, which features organic eggs and interesting concoctions like Eggs Benedict over quinoa, avocado and raw fish. The upper-crust thing became apparent immediately after exiting the subway. No flashing lights, crowds or huge blaring TV screens; just quiet, artsy affluence.
Outside of the station--little waterfalls on the left
If you zoom in, you can see the glass lilies inside the heart.
We then ventured into the "mall" where again, every big-name designer had a store; there were also some cool features.
An art installation called "Paper Airplanes"
Just a little waterfall across from the Gucci store
Outside of the "mall" a shrine was tucked away on a side street.
Onto the subway again to see the famous scramble crossing in Shibuya, supposedly the busiest crossing in the world. Scramble crossing means everyone crosses from each side at once, not one side at a time as we know it. And it works which is no surprise, given how efficient the Japanase are. They have this down!
View of Shibuya Crossing from Hikari department store
Another thing checked off the list! After some down time (at our age, the jet lag overcoming period is taking its time), we wanted to explore a unique place in the suburbs, Shimokitazawa (or the nickname Shimokita), only a 6-minute train ride away from Shibuya Station. Enter a different world: streets lined with quirky bars, restaurants, second-hand shops, record shops and everything else in between.
The people in Shimokita are just as unique: young guys in school uniform skirts, old men with long hair, ladies with half-shaved and dyed hair, musicians, artists--you could spend hours just people-watching. We had a certain bar in mind, which also served Okinawan food and was mentioned in our travel guides: Never Never Land, located in an old building. Crammed full of old items, dark and smelly, this was what we came here for. The two young ladies who ran the bar also cooked the food right at the bar on a two-burner gas stove. We tried such things as fermented tofu, Okinawan veggie stir fry, sweet potato and sesame balls and bitter melon tempura.
Bitter melon tempura, with a bowl of salt
Next stop: Mother, another unique bar.
Mother's toilet
Some street impressions; this was after the crowds had left
It was a busy day--time for bed!
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