Japan Day 3: Meiji Shrine, Harajuku, Shibuya Crossing
If there is one piece of advice I can give all my sweaty friends out there, do not go to Japan in the dead of summer like we did. We are literally outside for 4 hot seconds, and I'm dripping in sweat. Combine that with having to sightsee outdoors, damn - your girl can make an ocean with this sweat! LOL.
So we started day 3 with Meiji Shrine - this was a Shinto shrine, and the first shrine we visited. It is a beautiful walk in... and I can't tell you how thankful I was for all the trees blocking the pathway we were walking. LOL.
As you walk in, there is a cleansing water area where you can rinse your hands (and mouth) before you enter. The water was so cool and refreshing on a hot day.
Then you can purchase a tablet or an 'Ema' to write your wishes, hopes, prayers to hang. Obviously, I was feeling a bit cheap so I didnt want to spend the five dollars on a piece of wood I would have to leave at the shrine. ha ha! It was a beautiful place - however we have complainer #1 (me) who cant stop sweating and complainer #2 (husband) that doesnt care too much about outdoor historical things while out in heat lol.
Next up, we went to Harajuku where we went down the famously crowded Takeshita Dori Street. It's filled with crepes (that we didn't eat) and all kawaii fun. I even saw the CUTEST cotton candy! I wanted to get it but let's be honest, I don't really enjoy cotton candy and Japanese people hardly have trashcans on the street.. so I decided instead to take a pic of other people's sweet treat LOL.
Then we went to Shibuya Crossing. At this point, my phone had completely overheated and was freaking out so I couldn't take any photos! However. it was an awesome shopping area and we got to walk across the famous Shibuya Crossing! It's the most congested cross walk with the most people... I think.. in the world! It was pretty nuts!
After my phone cooled, we ended up out at dinner. I knowww, no 7eleven dinner!!! LOL. We went to the famous Sushi Bar Yasuda. I will have to admit, it was pretty disappointing for me and seemed to be a pretty big tourist spot. I accidentally reserved us a spot at a table rather than the bar, but I think I preferred it. Although the chef was very outgoing and knowledgeable, forgive me for saying this.. but he had a very pompous, prideful air to him. He even said that he enjoys talking to his customers but no locals really know him because he keeps to himself. He also talked about how none of his assistants or people he taught were good enough and that all of them only care about money which is why he works alone lol.
The sushi though? Was pretty good. He caters your omakase to what you like so I got my fair share of fatty tuna and salmon and Felix got his of uni. While the pieces of fish were delicious (and much smaller than all the other sushi places we've been), the rice was much more tart and vinegar-y than I liked. He also didn't put wasabi on anything and didn't put our soy sauce bc he said it was flavored already.
The funniest part for me was when this NY-er guy got yelled at by him for putting ginger on his sushi. He said it was terrible etiquette and putting the ginger on basically negates the flavor of the fish. Ha Ha!! so embarrassing.. good thing I looked up all the sushi etiquette before I left lol.
We left with an extremely large bill (although we did eat 21 pieces... so full. we tried to tell them we were full but they said just 3 more pieces! lol) and although it was an interesting experience, I probably wouldn't do it again. I think I would've rather gone to Sushi Dai again to wait for 3 hours!
Needless to say, I was missing my 7eleven dinner (lol).. so we still took a stroll in and I picked up some Hagen Daz white peach ice cream to make myself feel better lol.
Another great day with new experiences... but now, we're are off an another adventure to the fox village -- will let you know how it goes tomorrow!!