Day 31 - Harajuku shopping, Snow White and the Togo Shrine

Hey everyone!

Hope you are all well!
It is getting closer and closer to Christmas! The Christmas decorations started popping up in Tokyo as soon as Halloween was over so I'm already starting to feel like Christmas is around the corner - whether I like it or not!

On October 31st Amy, Zoe and I went to Harajuku. There are so many things to see in Harajuku that there was no way we had time to explore everything during the first visit, so here we are again!

As I probably mentioned before Harajuku really does have a similar feel to London's Camden market although with perhaps a slightly cuter and more lighthearted air to it.

There are lots of shops selling accessories, shoes, bags, clothes and food.

Earphones in as many designs as you could possibly need

First we went into a shop that sold lots of accessories and bags. The store was packed wall to wall with numerous cute and colourful things from nail varnish and nail art supplies to mobile phone cases and headphones!

Hooded-rucksacks! Yay or nay?

One point to mention about this shop was the bags that it had hanging up on the back wall. What was special about these rucksacks was that some of them had hoods attached to them! I'm not sure I will ever buy one but I thought it was a rather novel idea and some of the designs were pretty sweet!

In the same shop was a little corner for nail art and personalised phone-straps. I really want to buy some more nail varnish as I haven't really been able to keep up my nail art since I came to Japan, but since I had to leave all my nail varnish back in England it feels like too much to have to build up a substantial colour collection over here!
In the top right corner of the above photo are nail wraps. They are pretty cute and I have seen a lot since I arrived here, but I have never used them before and am a bit apprehensive about giving them a go! Have you ever used them? If so, what do you think?

Anyone for Alpaca slippers?

After perusing the wares in the first shop we wandered into another nearby shop that was selling knickknacks.  

This shop also sold clothes and bags but it had a few more random gag gifts and oddities.

BACK SCRATCHERR! BACK SCRATCHEERRR!

The next shop of note was perhaps the sock shop!

Now I don't know if it has been apparent in any previous posts but socks are kind of a thing here! You can always find special gift or theme socks whenever you visit a touristy place and character stores also usually have their own cute socks on sale!
In fact there are shops dedicated to just selling socks, tights and other inside-the-shoe related goods!

*Engrish warning!*
Anyone for some Sweet Masculine socks?

This shop had socks in more styles then anyone could possibly ask for!

From cute bunnies to toe-socks!

I personally liked the little piggy socks! 

Can you resist the cuteness?

After the sock shop there was an accessory shop called Paris Kids that we went into. It always seems to be busy in there. The prices in there are pretty low and it reminds me a bit of Claire's Accessories (although there are also Claire's Accessories stores in Japan).

There were rows and rows of adorable bow hair accessories. There were so many I would have liked to take home with me, but I have given myself a ban on buying hair accessories until I actually get round to using the ones I bought in China during my summer holiday! 

They even had bows similar to those found on Japanese school uniforms!

Now the next two accessories creeped me out. I'm not sure what they are supposed to be or what they are for! 

If you can enlighten me in any way on these weird spheres please do so in the comments below!

Why is this man trapped in a bubble on a patch of grass?? WHY??!!

There is a woman version too! I need answers!!!

Some more Engrish for you

We went to a clothes shop where Amy and Zoe tried some things on. We were particularly drawn to this lovely "slow swaying" jumper. Zoe entertained the idea of buying it for a while but eventually decided against it.

I thought these bunny hats were pretty nifty!

There are so many cool clothes shops in Harajuku selling things in a range of different styles. There are always so many things I want to buy!

You can find clothes and shoes in Harajuku starting from pretty low prices for Japan. There are shoes and tops starting at just over 1000 yen (around £6.50). Although don't be fooled into thinking everything in Harajuku is cheap! Clothes, in general, are unfortunately pretty expensive in Japan.

Wallets and Suica holders in a cute-style shop.
(Suica are similar to Oyster cards)

So cute!

Many of the shops in Japan put a lot of effort into the decoration and layout of the store!

Something that I really like about Japanese shops is how much effort is put into the feel of the store. This doesn't only include clothes shops but extends to other places such as restaurants. 

I find it really makes a big difference in how you feel while shopping!

My new friend - Snow white - now with blonde hair!

I found myself a new friend while walking down the street!
I couldn't miss the opportunity to get a picture so I ran back to ask to get a cheeky snap!

Of course a trip to Harajuku would not be complete without getting another of its famous crepes!

Not only did this one have cream and ice cream inside but they put a slice of cake in too for good measure!

Making our pumpkin crepes - and yes, that is a slice of pumpkin pie you see going into the crepe!

My pumpkin crepe - it was so delicious!

I couldn't resist ordering the seasonal Halloween crepe, it would only be available for the Halloween period only!! They even changed the wrapper to a special Halloween design!

After eating our crepes we went round the corner to have a look at Togo shrine which was built in 1940.
It was really beautiful and well-kept!

It looked so pretty with the lanterns glowing!

On the way back we saw this scool

After the shrine we looked around some more of Harajuku's shops!

A vintage shop

Anyone who has been to Camden may see some similarities in this shop! 

This was a costume shop found on the main street. It was packed full of elaborate costumes!

Anyone looking to store their ducks?

As promised in my last post on Harajuku, I returned to have a look at the Tamagotchi store!

I don't know about you but I remember how crazy everyone went for Tamagotchis when I was in primary school! I think my mum even bitterly remembers how she had to look after mine at work after they became banned at my school!

This shop was so cute! It had so much Tamagotchi merchandise from plushies to stationary and of course Tamagotchis themselves!

Being in this store really made me want to buy a Tamagotchi again! 

Kuchipatchi plushies, socks and even name stamps!

They had a section just for Kuchipatchi (the green one)!

After the quick look in the Tamagotchi shop we headed back home as it was getting late!

I had a really good day with Zoe and Amy in Harajuku and managed to buy somethings I really wanted - I may cover this in another post as I feel like it is a topic in itself!
However, there are still so many things left to see in Harajuku so don't think you've seen the last of it yet!

I hope you enjoyed this post!

See you for now!