Day 6: Harajuku & Shinagawa, TOKYO

Harajuku pt 1

Originally, we had been planing on going to Gram cafe first to see if we could get pancake tickets for the 6pm time slot. But because we were running a little late and had gotten to Harajuku station at around 10:30am, I decided that we should get our tickets for the Mame-shiba Inu cafe first. We got to the Mame-shiba Inu Cafe around 10:45am and we were able to get tickets for the 11:15am time slot. Each ticket was 880 yen and they take cash only, with exact change preferred.

Then we checked out gram cafe and found out you have to come an hour before the serving times to get tickets. We planned to come back around 4 or 4:30pm to line up for the 5pm ticket handout which is for the 6pm serving time, haha. In general, they only serve their premium souffle pancakes at 11am, 3pm, and 6pm, and for each time, they only make 20 servings total. Which means that an hour before each serving time, they hand out only 20 pancake tickets. No deposit necessary, you just have to be the one of the first 20 people to ask for tickets at 10am, 2pm, and 5pm. We were wondering if we could ask for the 6pm tickets at 10am but turns out you can only go during that hour before for each specific serving time.

So while we were waiting for our time slot for the shiba inu cafe, we walked around a bit and looked at all the crazy cute stuff. We managed to finally get one of those animal hats we’d been seeing on so many people where the ears move when you press the paws and it was pretty fabulous–we picked a unicorn hat with a rainbow mane and shiny silver horn!

Harajuku Mame-shiba Inu Cafe

We got back to the Mame-shiba inu cafe approximately 10 minutes before our time slot. After going in, there was a quick safety video about not feeding or picking up the dogs as well as not interrupting them if they were fighting with each other (which was for our safety to avoid getting bit).

The dogs were adorable but definitely less playful than most dogs. Our friends had told us previously that shiba inu have temperaments a bit closer to cats so they just played with themselves and didn’t really seem to like being petted. A few dogs were napping or relaxing and they were more tolerant. The rest were just running around fighting/playing with each other for most of our thirty minute time slot. But hey, we wanted to cross off animal cafe on our must-try list in Japan! And we ended up buying really cute shiba inu bowels as souvenirs.

While we were waiting to pay, it seemed like all the dogs that had been running around like crazy were now pooped out and more chill overall so I think it’s also just really variable how much they will play with you or tolerate. I also totally forgot to finish the drink that comes included with the fee and sort of wish I had drank it–I got melon soda!

ZAKUZAKU

After we left the cafe, we wanted to try one of the snacks on the street and got drawn to this shop because of the smell and because we had seen other people eating this dessert. It was basically fried dough with strawberry yogurt filling and it wasn’t bad. I was most disappointed because I thought the dough was going to be warm and fresh but it wasn’t really. The strawberry filling was pretty good though.

We then left around 12pm to head to Shinagawa station because we were going to do MariCar!

Shinagawa

At Shinagawa station, we also spotted a store selling bento boxes so we grabbed one that looked good. I was seriously also tempted to buy the bento boxes that were in the shape of bullet trains but I resisted. Honestly, I feel like I should’ve given in. We then met up with Henry’s family and headed over to MariCar.

MariCar

This was an amazing experience and it was really nice to be driving after almost a week of only taking public transportation. To do this, you probably should make a reservation ahead of time and will need an International Driver’s License. We got ours before we left for Japan and it’s pretty simply to go to AAA and get one as long as you already have a state-issued driver’s license.

Our tour was two hours long and it was plenty of time. We drove through Shibuya crossing, around Tokyo Tower, and many more other neighborhoods I didn’t quite recognize. We would absolutely do this again, maybe at night time instead to change it up a little.

We finished maybe around 3:30pm and our guide was able to AirDrop all the pictures he took for us directly to our phones. While you can’t take pictures while driving, at full stops, he told us we could take pictures then. If you want footage while driving, make sure to bring a GoPro or rent theirs. We then headed back to Harajuku to make it back for the 6pm premium pancakes at Gram cafe!

Harajuku pt 2

We got to Gram cafe around 4pm and decided to just sit there and wait for the 5pm hand-out of tickets. Mostly we sat because we wanted to eat our food. We finally got a chance to eat the bento box we got earlier at Shinagawa station. It was pretty delicious but many regrets on not getting the bullet train shaped one, haha.

After we got our pancake tickets, we walked down Takeshita street and just took everything in. Literally everything is made to look cute and we saw multiple crepe stands as well as this really cute ice cream shop that makes all the cones into cute animals. We watched the workers cut marshmellows and other ingredients into ears and beaks, and that was just hilarious. It was pretty pricy but I guess it’s for the amount of work that goes into each scoop. The chicken scoop looked really cute and was mango flavored! Maybe if we weren’t literally about to eat pancakes, we would’ve gotten something.

Gram cafe

Finally it was time for us to get some souffle pancakes and it was really worth it. It was actually really funny because you really can’t take too long to take pictures because the pancakes start to bulge and lean over under its own weight. Good thing we got four orders so plenty of opportunity for pictures and videos!

The texture of the pancakes was pretty ridiculously soft and the dollop of cream really was necessary as a topping. These pancakes are a little more eggy than standard pancakes overall but it wasn’t overwhelming. We also tried their normal pancakes which were pretty delicious as well as french toast and some more savory foods like bacon and eggs. The thick-cut bacon was awesome. After stuffing ourselves, we headed to the Sailor Moon Store.

Sailor Moon Store

Honestly, I was a little underwhelmed. The store was smaller than I was hoping and it seemed a little lacking in merchandise overall. Additionally, stuff was super expensive. The only thing I think I really wanted was the a phone ring but they were out of the Sailor Moon one and only had the other senshi. As for the rest of the merchandise, nothing had a cute:cost ratio that stood out to me so I ended up just getting a couple things from their gashapon. I’m sure the products they carry turn over quite a bit and I think they have some exclusive items but I decided to keep my hunt for Sailor Moon products to stores like Don Quijote and random souvenir shops we came across.

Daiso

We went to the Daiso because of course, why not. Got a few souvenirs to bring back and looked at the character goods they carried.

While we continued to walk back, we walked into an electronics store and spotted some Sailor Moon chapstick and I was pretty happy! I kept looking for Sailor Moon phone cases or rings but didn’t have any luck.

Most of the shops along the street start closing around 8:30pm so we started to make our way to Akihabara for a quick stop as some of the stores were still open. Overall, I feel like we didn’t really get used to the fact that so many thing shut down fairly early. Most shops in the US will close around 10pm or maybe later depending on the type of store. But thing really start to shut down around 9pm in Japan in a lot of places we went to.

Akihabara

By the time we got to Akihabara, the number of stores still opened started to diminish pretty quickly. We didn’t realize the Gashapon Hall closed at 8:30pm and most of the Sofmaps and other electronic and anime stores were already closed by the time we got there which was probably a little after 9pm.

Game Taito

We walked through the Game Taito just to look at the crane games again. Still really didn’t see anybody winning but a few people struggling and looking like they were maybe close? I honestly wonder how much effort and money you need to sink in on average in order to win something legit. On our way out, we found a funny and free two-player game which was just how fast you can tap a button–that was really cute.

Akihabara Don Quijote

Ultimately, we ended up at the Don Quijote because it was open until 5am and this one definitely had more anime goods in general compared to the other Don Quijote in Shibuya. I managed to find my Pikachu jumper and I was super pumped. We also bought more souvenirs and then headed to our hotel after that.