Tokyo Harajuku with Kids: Cafe-hopping and non-stop shopping

Useful transportation site:

http://www.hyperdia.com/en/

Harajuku is the place to go for its collection of quaint cafes and shopping options. My nieces, the city-dwellers had so much adrenaline here it was difficult for me to keep up. We were literally eating and shopping the whole time. 

Kiddyland

Let loose your kid here and you’ll regret it! It’s like Disney Store cum Sanrio Store cum Rilakumma Store etc all rolled into one. Be prepared to burn a hole in your pocket. My sister-in-law set a limit of 3 items per child so my nieces had to decide carefully what they wanted to buy.

I wiped out every Princess Leia plushie on their shelf! Haha

Even the toilets are so cute

Luke’s lobster

Sinking your teeth into soft and fluffy brioche bursting with succulent Boston lobster flesh when you are hungry from all that shopping is just too satisfying. The clam chowder was awesome too, packed with ingredients, hot and flavourful, a warm welcome in the cold weather.

Dominique Ansel Bakery

There was already a queue when we arrive just after opening hours so we had to wait for a seat. Note that if you order from level 1, you can only dine at level 1.

My nieces enjoyed watching the torching of frozen smore (vanilla ice cream coated with chocolate cookie bits encrusted in marshmallows), cookie shot and blossoming hot chocolate. It was the most expensive breakfast we had but the smiles on my nieces’ faces tell me it was worth it. Which kid doesn’t like sweet stuff? I sometimes feel that you can get diabetes just by looking at the food here but for kids, they have the metabolism to burn off all that sugar! Haha

Owl cafe

I had planned to go to a cat cafe but we figured that since Singapore also has one, we should try something more exotic so we settled on owl cafe and got the gentleman at the tourist information booth at Harajuku to help us make a reservation. The owls are so cute and I didn’t know they had such soft feathers. My nieces very gamely tried holding an owl and letting a bird fly to them. Interesting experience indeed!

Takeshitadori

This busy street has so many shops and snacks we had to be selective. Crepes are too filling so we popped into the Calbee Store for the chips, the kind of food your mother forbids you from eating too much of because it’s heaty but your aunt brings you there so you can cart back a few boxes home to slowly savour.

Long fries

Just at the entrance of Takeshitadori from the side away from JR Harajuku station is a tiny hole in the hall counter that sells these amazing fries. They are made by passing mashed potato through a tool with holes so they form noodle-like strips before hitting the boiling oil to be fried. The 6 of us cleaned out one tray of these in less than 5 mins.