Countries Of My Life: Harajuku + Shinjuku

Takeshita Street

Today was a public holiday, so I spent the day with Jasmine-san, an intern from Taiwan, and Tsubasa-san, the current VPCOM of AIESEC SP. So we met about 1pm in the district Harajuku to go shopping (again, I know :) We went to the Takeshita Street, the most famous street in harajuku for shopping clothes. Because it was public holiday the normally crowded street was even more crowded. When I compare this to Germany, I would say like at Christmas Market :D

a real flood of people ;)

Takeshita Street has dozens of little and big stores, some companies have even two stores in this street. We went into various stores, but actually only I bought something.

No, not for myself, it will be for a another person. The name will be revealed when I come back to Germany (*cough* Christmas *cough*)

Cool day with cool people ^^
(C) Jasmine

Thanks to Jasmine-san and Tsubasa-san who helped by giving me the critical advices ^^

Our afternoon snack was Crêpes filled with various things like ice cream, fruits or sweet sauce. Japan has a really diverse food culture :)

The next station was something more cultural, so we went to the Meiji-Shrine. When you can image a big Japanese temple within a forest, that's Meji Jingu :)

It was really peaceful there which was a good contrast to the crowded street we experienced before.
The temple is dedicated to the Emperor Meiji himself and many famous people visited this place. If you want to know who exactly, just check the barrels at the entrance, their names are written on them ^^

The entrance

Until now, I don't know if the barrels were empty or not. If they were full, there would be a good stock of Sake (rice wine) and (grapes) wine :D

Hours of walking - nothing can stop us! :)
(C) Jasmine

After this visit, we went to Shinjuku. Why? Was just a spontaneous action ^^

Shinjuku - a very colorful city in many ways :)

Business advertisment
in Kabukichou :D

I finally saw the (in)famous Kabukichou, Asia's largest red light district, so they say. But don't worry I was there at daytime, so there were just empty streets with no "business" around ;)

Only the pictures on the building showed what I can expect during business hours :D And of course, I was told that it can be dangerous during night, so it's maybe not a good place to hang out ;)

Our last station where we went was a café to talk a bit and, more importantly, to eat some very interesting cakes. This was my first time I ate cake made of weet potato. It was sooo delicious! ^^ Japanese people really know how to make unique and tasty food. Here is food more than the sum of its ingredients ;)

Thanks again to Jasmine and Tsubasa for this fantastic day and these interesting talks. I learned a lot about the Japanese and Taiwanese way of working and after-work-celebration :D And I taught about the German Way ;)

Green Tea and Sweet Potato Cake
a perfect combination ^^

For example, the Japanese people work really hard and from morning to evening. Afterwards they often to go into restaurants or bars with clients and/or colleagues. First it sounded so exhausting. But think about it, a good way to let the stress/steam from the work out, is to go and drink a bit. Not too much of course. Relaxation after work is a definetely a point where Germans lack. One more reason for the new German #1 illness Burn-Out oO

And so ended a wonderful day ...

Finally at home, I could take barely a shower, before I fell into bed. But the last three days were totally awesome and full of new impressions. Coming to Japan was more than the right decision, it was a step into a new life :)

More impressions of this day: