Busy Shibuya
After a well deserved night of sleep we decided to spend the day in Shibuya, but not before exploring beautiful Harajuku further.
On our way to the station we found a tiny street food stall that was serving Takoyaki (in short, fried balls of gooey batter with chopped octopus) so we had to try it. We sat down in front of the chef watching all the tricks he was doing with the goods. The meal was the perfect way to start our day.
On our way to Shibuya we kept going in and out of places, whether to eat doughnuts or onigiri, or just gaze at the tiny streets packed with wonderfully looking houses, so it took us a while to get there. But when we did, it hit us with its full force.
Truck loads of people and even more neon lights and humongous ads, music and people humbly but loudly asking the crowd to spend some yens at their store. A truly sensory overwhelming experience. It was just so much to take in that we lost our way more than a couple of times, in a good way.
The crossing itself is different than we had anticipated — you just can’t quite imagine what it’s like to be facing several hundred people and try to avoid bumping into at least a dozen when the light goes green. It’s an insane frenzy quite like no other!
We found a nice place to have dinner that announced Ramen in a huge LED billboard at the entrance, and saying that it was fantastically delicious is an understatement. Easily the best ramen we have had. Ever. Tasty meat and seaweeds, sticky noodles and a very tick scrumptious broth accompanied by gohan, gyoza and very cold Asahi beer.
With everything in Japanese but small descriptions in English of the menu, this was definitely a test for the very famous language barrier that this country is known for. It went perfect. There is no language barrier when one part is eager to please and the other is eager to learn. All Japanese want you to feel good in their country and even if they don’t know how to speak whatever language you do, they will find a way to make you feel comfortable and happy.
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