Starting in South Korea and finishing this trip in Japan meant that Tokyo was the last place we’d be visiting. We had traveled from North to South (Seoul → Busan), then West to East (Osaka → Kyoto), and now Tokyo was waiting for us.
It was time for the much anticipated homecoming, an entire decade after our first visit.
Still back in Kyoto, we were enjoying the last moments in our machiya/townhouse. Slowly getting ready, packing the few remaining things, and having breakfast. It was such a precious space that we didn’t want to leave.
When we couldn’t postpone it any longer, we got on the subway and headed to the Kyoto Station. We’d be taking the shinkansen to Tokyo, a speedy 2:30h ride.
This time we’d be staying in the Shinagawa station area. Super convenient since it’s the first train stop in Tokyo, but not super welcome for a family trip. The train station is one of the busiest in Tokyo, and there’s not a lot around if you exclude thousands of people moving from one place to another.
It was really hard to find hotels this time around, especially for a family of 4 like ours. There were loads of options for couples, but most hotels that we looked into required us to book 2 rooms for us four.
In sadder news, we found exactly zero Airbnbs in the Harajuku and Jingumae areas where we’d stayed in previously. It has been well-documented that Japan’s good intentions to legalize Airbnbs, actually ended up having the opposite effect, but we had no idea how few there were left.
After a quick check-in and freshen up at the hotel, we were out again. And we wanted to visit “our” neighborhood, Harajuku.
In more bad news, the famous Harajuku station entrance is now gone after 96 years of existance. Japan Railways has built a modern all-glass entrance in the South corner that is much more safe and spacious, but a lot less cute or unique. There are plans to rebuild the Ghibli-like house, but we’ll see.
We had an early dinner at Eggs n’ Things, explored the narrow alleyways of Jingumae a bit, and walked along Cat street where we visited Miyashita Park. Despite its name, Miyashita Park is a big shopping complex that was under construction the last time we visited.
From there it was a short walk to Shibuya, where we showed the girls the giant crossing, and saw a few familiar places.
The entire day was a lot of aimless wandering around, but it was the best way to say “hi again” to a place so dear to us.
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