Dream Then Roam: Tokyo Day 1 - Harajuku and Shibuya

After a tedious 9 hour flight from Gold Coast to Tokyo, we finally arrived on the night of December 5th. We flew JetStar Economy which was less than fabulous but we got here in one piece which is all the matters.. and now Tokyo has stolen our hearts.

We are staying in Shinjuku in an apartment we found on AirBnB. It is super tiny but great for all we need it for and is in the perfect location. Not long after arriving and getting to our apartment we started our adventures by looking for some dinner. It didn't go to plan and we ended up getting packet noodles from the 7/11 because we are using MasterCard Travel Cards and unfortunately they aren't accepted at most ATM's in Japan (which we didn't know about before arriving) and most dinner places are cash only. The ONE ATM we found that we could use was down for maintenance.. Just my luck. Either way it was great to see what we were close to and exciting to get into exploring as soon as we got here.

After a good sleep, day one consisted of exploring more of Shinjuku as well as Shibuya and Harajuku. We did a little spot of shopping at Forever 21, H&M and TOPSHOP in Shinjuku before walking to Harajuku and from there to Shibuya. I was in charge of maps and kept reassuring everyone "Oh it's only a 5 minute walk from here!" until a lot longer after 5 minutes of walking did we realise my Maps were set to 'car' mode and not walk and realistically it took around 45. But it was fun to walk and see things that way. When we eventually got to Harajuku it was colourful mayhem. So crowded and shops filled to the brim with everything KAWAII! But disappointedly there were no Harajuku girls anywhere! Maybe we were looking in the wrong spot.

In Harajuku, Takeshita St with a Chocolate Sauce, Banana and Cream crepe... Not very yummy)

(Takeshita St, Harajuku)

(Entrace to Takeshita St, Harajuku)

(Angel Heart Crepes)

(Madi and I at the top of Takeshita St, Harajuku)

(Nathan and Nick at the top of Takeshita St, Harajuku)

From Harajuku we walked to Shibuya to see the famous crossing and everything else this awesome part of Tokyo has to offer. Definitely a Japanese version of New York City's Time Square but actually a lot more bearable which I loved about it. We spent a few hours looking around the streets and shops and from there headed back to our apartments, got ready and went out for dinner and drinks. For dinner we ended up in a Gyoza restaurant in Shinjuku which was delicious and then afterwards we wanted to go to the New York Bar at the top of the Park Hyatt Hotel, but after arriving, seeing the view (which is amazing) and then realising just to get a seat was 2200¥ per person and drinks were around 2000-3000¥ each we quickly ended up at the Golden Gai, a club/bar district at the karaoke bar. That lead us the midnight snacks at McDonald's and bed soon followed.