Japan 7th Day - Shibuya

Day 7 was Shopping-in-Shibuya-Day for us.  We purposely went during rush hour to catch the crowd at Shibuya Crossing.  

We musta had manju for breakfast 'cause that's what Leslie is eating here.  I forget already where we got it from. Our breakfasts throughout the trip were pretty much small stuff like this.  We had originally budgeted ourselves $20 each per meal.  We ended up spending about $20 PER DAY each instead.


I had to put my camera away into my bag before boarding.  There wouldn't have been room for it once we got on the train, that's how tightly we were packed.  They actually have attendants there who are people packers.  They shove and push the people into the train. There is absolutely no space between you and the next person. Almost 40 years ago I was in a similar situation.  The car was filled tightly. The guy standing behind me had his arms dangling at his side. As the train bounced up and down, his arm would rub my butt up and down.  I didn't know if he couldn't help it or if I should be offended. I just let it go.  Almost the same thing happened on this trip.  We were packed so tightly that I could barely breath. Only difference . . .  the guy behind me didn't end up rubbing my butt.  Instead, he kept elbowing and kneeing me trying get me AWAY from him.  The situation was so hilarious to me that I just wanted to lauuuugh!  In fact, maybe I did.


This is on the outside of Shibuya Station.


This is the statue honoring Hachiko, the dog who continued to wait  daily at the station for his master even after the master had passed away.


We went straight to the second floor of Starbucks to try and get shots of people at Shibuya Crossing.


It was raining slightly.


And things looked good photo-wise at first.


But my pictures ended up kinda disappointing.


We didn't stay too long at Starbucks.  There was shopping to be done. So we headed up this street.


We were a little too early so we had to wait a few minutes for Tokyu Hands to open up.


I thought this was so cool.


It's long, skinny plastic bags for you to put your wet umbrellas into.  That way you won't leave puddles in their store.  Clever yah!


My friend Bobbi had told me about washi tape, so I got really excited when I saw this.  There was so much variety.


For lunch we had my favorite thing - ramen.




Then it was back to shopping.


We went to check out Mandarake where there are anime and manga stuff and even costumed girls.


These stairs were so steep that it felt like we were going down into a dungeon.  I dreaded climbing back up.  


It wasn't what we were expecting. More books than anything.  I found out after taking this shot that picture taking is actually not allowed. The girl who informed me was so, so cute.  She was so apologetic.  She made an "x" with her right and left forefingers and bowed real low and said in Japanese something like, "Oh venerable o-customer-sama, please, I'm so sorry, but no picture taking is allowed.  So sorry."  That was the sweetest "no pikchas" I ever got.  So Japanese.


We shopped some more.






Me and Les wasted more than 10 bucks trying to get one of these cute coin purses.


After shopping on our way back home, we tried again for a good Shibuya Crossing picture.


Near our hotel was a 7 Eleven.  This was my favorite, favorite thing from there.  Vanilla ice cream with azuki beans and mochi. Sooooo goooooood.


We rested  up in the afternoon and for dinner we decided to get something from nearby.  I got this mushroom donburi dish.  It was yummy and cheap too.


This was Leslie's meal.


I just got a few more pictures from our last day in Japan . . . not too many, but I'll still post them.  Coming soon.