Cat temple

Gotokuji Temple

The target for the day was Gotokuji Temple, famous for its numerous maneki-neko or happy cat statuettes.  We left the hotel at 0930 by train and arrived about an hour later.

The forecast sunny weather appeared to be a lie when we arrived.  Fortunately, the skies brightened up considerably towards the end of our time here.

Many visitors have bought statuettes of the happy cat and written their wishes on them, leaving them at the temple.  There’s now a sign that one is supposed to take home the statuettes.  If one wanted to make a wish, the correct way is to buy a wooden placard, write on it and hang it on the racks provided.

Ah well, the place wouldn’t be so cute if it hadn’t been for all the unsolicited happy cats.

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Harajuku & Shibuya

We continued by metro to Harajuku, the hub of those who like to dress up in funny and cutesy costumes.  Specifically, Takeshita Street is famous for this.  However, we didn’t appear to see very many such individuals.

After doing some shopping at Daiso and window-shopping in pricier places, we sat down for an awesome late lunch in a basement restaurant around 1400.  My curry katsu rice was delicious.

We continued to Shibuya by foot, calling in at a very instagrammable spot that Alice had read about.  Tokyu Plaza Omotesando (not the branches in other areas) has entry stairs and escalators that are held inside a mirrored geometric tunnel.  It’s certainly very stunning to look at and also capture in photographs.

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It was dark when we made it back to Miyashita Park which we had visited yesterday.  We had hoped to dine in the atmospheric eateries here but none of us were ready after the big late lunch.

Continuing to Shibuya Scramble Crossing around 1800, I left the others to continue their shopping fun.   I returned to the hotel with a salad and a sandwich for dinner around 1900.