Shibuya

Today we head to Shibuya! Shibuya can easily take up the entire day, especially if you go with girls. Instead of the usual departmental stores that you see everywhere in Shinjuku, this area focuses more on fashion that people our age can identify with at an affordable price.

Like Scotland's Greyfriars Bobby, Shibuya also has a loyal dog! This dog's name is called Hachiko and boasts the same story as Bobby. Basically its owner left Shibuya station to go to work all the time. One day, he died on the way back and this cute doggie always goes to the Shibuya train station at the usual time that its master's train reaches Shibuya for the next 9 years till its own death. =(

Located in Center Gai (Shibuya's main shopping street) is a shop called Pablo that sells baked cheese tarts. It costs quite a bit (about 800 yen) and you can choose whether you want raw cheese (more like runny cheese) or medium-well cheese (kind of like cheesecake). The matcha cheese version is also not bad but truthfully I prefer the original one.

Taken from the web

Just further down from Pablo is this lifestyle stationery shop called Loft. Loft sells a large array of products that pertain to interior, hobby, crafts and stationery. Also has a large bento collection if you are into them. Worth a visit if you are into nice stationery. If you continue down the street you woudl also see Disney Store, where you can buy tickets for Disney Sea/Land to save time on the day that you are going. 

Taken from the web

If you are more into DIY stuff, you can visit Tokyu Hands, which is a few minutes walk from Loft. Tokyu Hands specializes more in DIY items, from interior to crafts to scrap-booking to anything that is DIYable. 

If you are a One Piece fan, you should definitely drop by the One Piece shop that is in the Parco departmental store, which is just next to Tokyu Hands. 

At the basement of Tokyu departmental store which is just outside Shibuya station lies Uoriki Kaisen Sushi. This store is one of the big players in the fish trade business in Japan and sells very fresh sashimi at decent prices. While not exactly cheap, you are definitely getting a bang for your buck because you will have to pay much more for such quality meat back in Singapore. I paid about 1400 yen for my Tuna bowl that has 3 different cuts of the Tuna and my girlfriend paid about 1050 yen for her assorted sushi plate. 

Other noteworthy stores are worth visiting include

• Forever 21
• H&M
• ABC Mart - shoes store that sells sports shoes at a much cheaper price than Singapore
• Shibuya 109 - a 10 storey building selling female fashion, albeit at rather expensive prices
• Shibuya 109 Men - the male counterpart of Shibuya 109
• Seibu - departmental store
• Parco - departmental store
• Marche Japan Farmer's market - just outside of the United Nations University which is about a 10-15 min walk from Shibuya station is one of the most popular and steadily growing farmers' market. Sells an assortment of pesticide free produce and is open every weekend from 10am to 4pm. 
• Tokyu - departmental store