Tokyo Walking Tour - Shibuya, Harajuku and Omotesando

Shibuya is a popular shopping and entertainment area mostly located around Shibuya Station.

Shibuya is one of Tokyo's most colorful and busy districts and birthplace to many of Japan's fashion and entertainment trends.

A prominent landmark of Shibuya is the large intersection in front of the station (Hachiko Exit), which is heavily decorated by neon advertisements and giant video screens and gets crossed by amazingly large crowds of pedestrians each time the traffic light turns green.

I recommend exiting Shibuya station and heading to the Hachiko exit.

From here you can see the Hachiko Statue. It is one of Tokyo's most popular meeting points.

The Hachiko statue is of a loyal dog named Hachiko. According to a famous story, the dog waited for his master every day in front of Shibuya Station, and continued to do so for years even after his master had passed away.

Explore Shibuya town centre and Shibuya 109 which is a fashion complex for young woman filled with over 100 boutique stores.

Next head up Koen Dori also know as "Park Street" because it leads up to the Famous Yoyogi Park. This street starts at Marui department store, next you will pass Parco Department Store. This area is called Spain Slope its about 100m pedestrian street with shops, cafes and resturants. Continuing up the hill you will pass Shibuya Tobu hotel, Shibuya Ward office and finally NHK Studio Park. If you pass by NHK Studio park with this on your left you will see Yoyogi Park across the street. Enter the park and enjoy the peace and quiet away from the hustle and bustle of Shibuya.

Yoyogi park is one of Tokyo's largest parks. There are ponds, bird watching spots, wide open spaces for picnicing and relaxing.
Take a walk around and breath in some fresh air.

Head out of the main exit of the park towards the Harajuku station and the pedestrian foot bridge, walk past the foot bridge about 5 minutes you will see the Meiji Jingu Shrine on your left hand side.

The Meiji Jingu Shrine is a Shinto Shrine surrounded by forest and there is free admission into the Main shrine area.

Heading out of the Shrine go left towards Harajuku station.

If you go on a Sunday you will see many young people gather around Harajuku Station and dressed up in crazy costumes anything from French maid outfits to cartoon anime characters.

From Harajuku station head down Takeshita Dori a main shopping street with fashion stores, restuants, cafes and fast food outlets. Also a very large Daiso (100 yen store) which I recommend stopping by.

Continuing down Takeshita Dori at the end turn right and you will see a large Shopping complex called Laforet Harajuku walking past this you will come to an intersection. With Laforet on your right go left across the road and walk up this street towards Omotesando.

Omotesando is a one kilometer long tree line street with many famous brand name stores from Louis Vutton to Gucci to Christian Dior.

You will see a very large famous toy store called "KiddyLand" on your right. I recommend checking this store out. As well as walking along further you will come to a store called the Oriental Bazzar this is large souviner shop with traditional Japanese items such as kimono's, T-shirts, tableware, dolls, postcards, as well as furniture and samuri goods. This is a great place to pick up any traditional Japanese souviners you may want to take home with you.

Continuing along this street you will see many shops, resturants and cafes before finally reaching Omotesando station.

This walking tour takes anywhere from Half a day to a full day depending on how much you want to stop to see and do.

I recommend this course as its a great way to see lots of shops, cafes, resturants as well as shrines, park areas and it gives a great contrast of Tokyo.