Tokyo Part 1: A Rainy Day in Harajuku
Tuesday, November 4, 2014
This past weekend was a three-day weekend and I finally went to Tokyo! I hadn't been there since the spring (unless you count passing through to go to the airport). I left a little after 7 and arrived in Tokyo around noon. I dropped my suitcase off at my hotel in Ikebukuro and ate lunch at Becker's outside of the station.
I was excited to see that they had Pho like I had in the spring. So tasty! It was perfect for a rainy day.
The whole day it rained lightly and stopped and started many times. Sometimes when it was raining lightly I just didn't bother with my umbrella. The rain was kind of annoying. Bleh.
After lunch I went to Closet Child (a used lolita clothing store) in Ikebukuro. They had a sale section with some really really good deals. I saw a super cute red Angelic Pretty one-piece dress for only 4,200 yen. It was not overly frilly, but very cute. It was more of a classic lolita look than their usual stuff. It looked like it would be really pretty for Christmas. I would have gotten it, but I want something with a print. Plus, I didn't want to spend a bunch of money at the first store I went in! They also had a pink strawberry print Baby the Stars Shine Bright jumper skirt for only 2,800! Wow! It looked used, but it wasn't bad at all. I would have gotten that one but I already have something pink and want a different color.
There was a super cute red Baby the Stars Shine Bright skirt with a baking print. It wasn't on sale and was 6,600 yen. Thought that isn't that bad for a cute print.
Next I went to Harajuku.
Such dreary weather. :(
I went in Laforet and visited the lolita stores in the basement. In Baby the Stars Shine Bright I saw a suuuuuper cute skirt. I had seen it online and it was even cuter in real life because it had a bit of glitter. The material was thick and it felt like it would be nice and warm.
The detail on the print was amazingly cute! I loved everything about it! Plus it was lavender which is currently one of my favorite colors.
The skirt was amazing. Unfortunately it was 16,800 yen... :( :( :( It was so cute though, so all the other clothing I saw that day just didn't excite me as much as it usually would. Nothing could compare!
After Laforet I shopped around Takeshita Street a bit.
I got a tasty yuzu lemon soda from 7-Eleven.
I want to get potato chips from Calbee Plus sometime. They're fresh and I've seen that they have some with ice cream and chocolate sauce, haha.
The one good thing about the drizzly weather was that Harajuku was less crowded than it would usually be on a weekend afternoon.
I went in a store I had never been in before (not sure of the name, but it was above Sanrio Vivitix) that had a cool light-up floor. Sometimes it was rainbowy!
I also saw a Pom Pom Purin cafe! I wasn't hungry though and it looked like they had already filled up for the day.
I also visited the main Baby the Stars Shine Bright store, which is just a few minutes walk from Laforet. It was wonderful! It still wasn't huge, but it was bigger than the Laforet location so I got to see some things that I didn't see earlier.
Photos aren't allowed, but luckily there is a nice video on Youtube:
Then I went to Kiddyland which was full of super cuteness as always. They had a Sailor Moon gachapon machine with the Sailor Mars keychain I wanted. I already have a couple in that series and was hoping I wouldn't get a repeat. Luckily, I got Sailor Mars on the first try! Yay!!!!!!!
They had a bunch of Christmas merchandise and I couldn't resist this My Melody stuffed animal. She looks so cozy and warm!
I also bought a Mamegoma bath ball with a toy inside. I took a bath at the hotel later. It was green apple scented and I didn't smell much, but the toy was cute!
Next I tried to find Q-Pot Cafe, which has really beautiful sweets. I had directions that said, "Turn right at the second pedestrian bridge." I had even written these myself, based on a map I had looked at. But I still turned at the first pedestrian bridge. I tried turning right and then going down different side streets a couple times with no luck. But I enjoyed walking down those streets because they were quiet and I saw some nice apartments. It looked like a really nice area to live, but I'm sure it's super expensive!
So I kind of gave up for a while and just walked down Omotesando, the main street, and took some pictures.
I always enjoy the atmosphere there and the lights made it even better.
That was in the window of the Shu Uemura cosmetics store. Soooooo cute! A Ragdoll cat and a pretty Christmas tree!
Eventually I looked at my directions again and saw that I was supposed to turn by the second pedestrian bridge. So I headed back that way (I was doing a lot of walking back and forth) and found the restaurant easily.
Q-Pot makes jewelry that looks like sweets, and this cafe has sweets made to look like their jewelry which look like sweets. Haha.
You can get take-out but I wanted to eat there because it's cute.When you eat there you have to get a set with a drink though which is pretty pricey. They were out of the berry macaron I wanted, so I got the chocolate one which was more expensive and less fancy which was kind of strange.
I chose the fiesta tea which was orange and cinnamon. It was really good tea! The macaron was also delicious! I thought the chocolates with it were just plain chocolates but they were truffles and sooooo good. The macaron was really good, but it may have actually been my least favorite thing. It was beautiful, but I've made chocolate macarons that tasted just as good. Though they were pretty lopsided... :P
Such an elegant macaron! It felt kind of wrong to eat the gold and silver stuff, but they were edible.
I really enjoyed the sweets, but I think getting take-out would have been better because I was alone. Though I wouldn't have gotten the tea or chocolates. It was about 1600 yen and it didn't take long to eat. I got a whole pot of tea and would have liked to take longer to enjoy it, but I was by myself and had no reason to stay. It's a nice atmosphere so it would be fun with other people to talk and stay a bit longer.
I took that picture as I was leaving. It makes it look like the cafe was empty, but some people had just left. I think all of the other tables were full.
Universal Doll has some good pictures of the cafe: Q-Pot Cafe
Near the cafe was a cute jewelry store with some decoration stuff as well. The lighting really caught my attention and drew me into the store.
Then I made my way back to Harajuku Station to take a train to Ikebukuro and visit a cat cafe!
I passed by a store with some robot displays.
I found this ad amusing. Why is he using a banana as a phone?
My next post will be about the cat cafe I visited, so look forward to kitty cuteness!