in Harajuku, Tokyo
Harajuku is a vibrant and iconic neighborhood located in the Shibuya ward of Tokyo. Known for its unique blend of fashion, culture, and creativity, Harajuku is a bustling hub that captures the essence of Tokyo's eclectic spirit. Visitors flock to Takeshita Street, the neighborhood's main thoroughfare, to explore an array of trendy boutiques, quirky shops, and street food stalls. Harajuku is also famous for its distinctive street fashion, with many young people donning elaborate and avant-garde styles albeit a lot less in recent times. Beyond fashion, the area offers a range of cafes, art galleries, and cultural experiences, making it a dynamic and must-visit destination for anyone looking to immerse themselves in Tokyo's youthful and cutting-edge culture.
Takeshita Street
Takeshita Street is famous for its trendy shops, cute cafes, and crepe stands, and is usually packed with teens after school and on the weekend. It's honestly such a fun place to shop for unique cheap(er) clothes and accessories. It's also where many of the unique Japanese fashions originated such as lolita or Kawaii culture. I don't visit here often nowadays, but I used to come here to shop a lot and take purikura (photo booth pictures) with friends when I was still in school. Within the past decade, I have noticed the rise of Korean and K-pop culture here, probably reflecting what's popular with today's Japanese youth. You can hear Le Sserafim songs playing on the street and see Korean food and candy being sold in the stores! There are also a few crepe shops lined along the street, so we stopped and got a strawberry crepe. You can't go wrong with strawberries and whipped cream!
Totti Candy Factory
This is a famous cotton candy shop that serves massive rainbow cotton candy. I don't know why I never knew this, but the cotton candy colors are actually all different flavors! The standard flavors for the cotton candy featured at Totti Candy Factory are strawberry, lemon, melon, soda, and grape flavors. For those that don't want to buy the massive cotton candy, they also sell tiny cups of each flavor. We bought a cup just to taste, and it was really good! They packed a lot into such a small cup!
Le Shiner
We tried the rainbow cheese sandwich from the popular Korean shop, Le Shiner. The sandwich tasted okay, but the cheese just looked so cool when pulled apart!
Strawberry Fetish
I am a sucker for ichigo ame (candied strawberries)! Strawberry fetish sells the traditional Japanese candy that is made from fruit (usually strawberries or grapes) with a thin crispy layer of hardened sugar syrup coating the outside. I love these! The line was rather long to get one, but these are just too yummy.
Reissue Cafe
Reissue Cafe is a 3D/2D latte art cafe that creates amazing designs for lattes. This is probably one of the best cafes I have been too! The coffee is strong and the designs are so cute. For the art, you can bring in a picture of your favorite character, person, or pet, and they will recreate for you with coffee, milk foam and chocolate. I cannot stress how talented the artists are here! We got a 2D clefairy art latte and a 3D totoro art latte. I can't wait to go again!
The Sailor Moon Store
This is the first official Sailor Moon store! It is located in the Laforet department store in Harajuku. They sell various Sailor Moon themed clothes, accessories, and merchandise here! The store is split into two areas, with one focuses on small collectables and stationaries, and the other focusing on accessories and clothes. I couldn't resist and ended up buying a jacket here!
Line Friends
Line is probably the most widely used messaging app in Japan. The app has various stickers you can use when texting your friends and family, featuring the Line Friends characters. The Line Friends store sells Line Friends merchandise as well as other popular characters from stickers sold on Line! My favorite is Usamaru, the cute bunny character.
HARRY Hedgehog Cafe
This hedgehog cafe is located a couple minutes away from Harajuku Station. This hedgehog cafe features African Pigmy hedgehogs for you to interact with. We went in the morning on a Saturday and it surprisingly wasn't very crowded! There are multiple troughs with 2 - 4 hedgehogs in each of them, a couple of hedgehogs at the counter, as well as a large pen in the middle where the hedgehogs can rest. The hedgehogs are absolutely adorable! They each have their own personality and you can see some of them huddled up together sleeping while others were running on the large hamster wheels! For a couple hundred extra yen, you can also feed them dried up mealworms. It's important to note that hedgehogs do not have good eyesight so be careful when feeding them as they can bite you! We were also given gloves and allowed to hold the hedgehogs. You pick them up by cupping them from the bottom, although I honestly prefer just to watch them. There were also hamsters and a meerkat inside the shop as well!
MUUN Seoul
MUUN Seoul is a Korean cafe that serves Korean-style macarons, which I just recently learned are called "fatcarons", because they are much larger and fatter than traditional french macarons. Honestly these are so yummy! I love the buttery fillings, the unique flavors, and the adorable designs. We picked up some halloween ones, since we visited in October. They were so good!
Eataly
Eataly is a famous Italian restaurant with shops all around the globe. They have a shop located in the Harajuku Wiz Building with terrace seating and a beautiful view of the station and the Meiji Shrine forest area. We ordered their pasta and ravioli and the food was so delicious! It's so hard to find good ravioli in Japan. Overall I love the ambience and the vibe of the restaurant and think it's a great casual date night spot!
My experience
Harajuku will always be such a fascinating place to me! While it is geared towards a younger crowd, I do recommend visiting at least once if you get the chance, because there's so just many interesting shops and it's fun to see what's trending! Just be prepared to battle the crowd! If you're looking for a more relaxed area, I recommend Omotesando which is right next to Harajuku.
Address
Jingumae, Shibuya City, Tokyo 150-0001
Access
Harajuku Station (JR Lines)
Meijijingumae Station (Tokyo Metro Lines) - 1 minute walk
Omotesando Station (Tokyo Metro Lines) - 5 minute walk
Official Sites
Totti Candy Factory: http://www.totticandy.com/
Le Shiner: https://twitter.com/le_shiner_jp
Strawberry Fetish: http://strawberryfetish.com/
Reissue Cafe: https://www.reissue.co.jp/
The Sailor Moon Store: https://sailormoon-official.com/store/access/
HARRY Hedgehog Cafe: https://www.harinezumi-cafe.com/en/harajuku/
MUUN Seoul: https://www.muunseoul.com/
Eataly: https://eataly.co.jp/
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