Yoyogi park, Shibuya, Imperial Palace and Ginza

Yesterday we headed to the West end of Tokyo, to a place popular with young people for fashion and going out. Firstly we went to Yoyogi park, which is really nice in itself, then inside the park is a shrine that you have to pay money to get in, but it was worth it. There were lots of paths and gardens, and there were big fish in the pond, and we even seen a terrapin. But it will have probably been even better in spring/summer, as apparently there are lots of different types of flowers too.

We then walked to Shibuya, which was the next subway station down. On the way, we walked down a street that is famous for young-people's fashion, especially gothic/lolita style. There was even a Claire's Accessories. Everyone was really stylish, and a few people were dressed up in costumes. I can't believe how they can look so composed in the humidity, when I look like I'm about to explode.

We then got to Shibuya, which is a really busy shopping/eating out part of the city. We got something to eat here, explored a bit then headed back to the hotel.

Today we headed to the Imperial Palace. You can't actually get in the main palace grounds, but you can see it from the outer gardens, and you can go into the east gardens for free, which are all sculpted and laid out really impressively.

All of this is just right next to the really expensive parts of town, so we headed to Ginza, which is 2 stops away on the subway. Ginza is full of all the designer brands, and is all very posh and expensive. We managed to find a reasonably prices sushi shop off the main street, which was just a bar around the kitchen. A lot of bars and restaurants are like this, with most places only seating about 12 people. But they make up for size by quantity.

We then spent a while wandering around the Sony building, which is full of all their newest technology for you to demo. They had some pretty cool 3D camcorders and things, and well as MP3 players, tablet PCs, cameras etc for people to try out. After that we went to a cafe for some drinks, and found this cool place all themed around a cat (I guess it's the owner's). I got a drink shaped like a cat, which looked awesome but would have been better if it wasn't green tea flavoured, and James got a bun with the cat's face on it.

After that we just wandered around a little more before heading home. We're planning on going back tomorrow, because apparently on Sundays they block cars from all the side streets and put tables outside, and we also seen some pretty cool chopsticks shaped like umbrellas we'd like to buy. There were a lot of kimono shops in Ginza too, but the type that are made-to-measure, and the price tags we say were well over £1000, so I think we'll buy the touristy ones we saw elsewhere.

Anyway, right now we're just relaxing, but probably going to head out for dinner later. There is a Denny's near the hotel, which is an American chain, so we'll probably go there. All the Japanese food places round here look small and dingy, and I think they mostly cater for the poorer local people.

So we've ticked off a lot of things from the guidebook, so will probably be revisiting places and randomly exploring from now on, so blog posts might get infrequent/boring. Will try and keep you as updated as possible though.