Ichiran Ramen 一蘭 @ Shinjuku - Shibuya

After visiting Meiji Jingu, we headed to Shinjuku to meet up with Yuri for lunch. I chose Ichiran Ramen as it is one of the highly raved ramen in Japan other than Ippudo ramen. 

Ichiran Ramen @ Shinjuku is about 3 minutes walk from the south east exit of JR Shinjuku station. The big and striking signboard made it easy to spot the shop.  

We made our order using the machine located at the entrance of the shop. Everything is in Japanese but i had Yuri with me so everything is alright!

Then we were seated side by side in a cubical  facing the kitchen. The server will double confirm your order and serve the food. However, I dislike about the cubical design as i would like to be seated together so that we can talk easily rather than eating by ourselves.

Ordered this salted tamago as appetizer and it was the best thing ever! It is refreshing and not salty at all! 

Ramen is served! We are able to customise the ramen according to our liking. We can choose the amount of garlic, oil, hardness of noodles and spiciness. I chose normal for everything but minimal oil and spiciness. 

I prefer ramen from Ichiran than Ippudo as I find the soup from Ichiran was more flavourful and I actually finished the whole bowl of soup!

Ichiran Ramen @ Shinjuku (south east exit)

〒160-0022　東京都新宿区新宿3-34-11 ピースビルB1F

After lunch, I said farewell to Yuri as this was the last time I will see her during the trip. Yuri and I met during my trip to New Zealand in July 2012. I was a solo traveler and she was studying in nz. We met on the magic bus and our friendship began. I hope that we will meet again no matter in Japan, Malaysia or other parts of the world! :)

After that, we took a train to JR Shibuya station to see the famous shibuya crossing and Hachiko statue! 

We exited the station via Hachiko exit and we were greeted with the Hachiko statue. The Hachiko statue also served as a meeting point for the locals so there are a lot of people hanging around the area.

Then we move on and cross the famous shibuya crossing multiple times! It wasn't too crowded during that hour. We tried to cross once during rush hour and it was really spectacular

We did some shopping in Shibuya and decided to end our day early as both of us were not feeling well. Shopping during winter is not convenient as there are so many layers to take off and put back on. Also, we felt really uncomfortable when some shops set their warmer too high. It is too hot for us as we had heatech underneath our clothing.

Here i present you a train during rush hour in Tokyo. They will board the train facing backwards and slowly move their way in while the doors are closing. The whole train was jammed packed and it was really fun to watch them squeeze into the train!

Meiji Jingu Shrine 明治神宮

This was my attempt to dress like Japanese to blend in with the crowds. I normally wear sport shoes when I am travelling as I will be walking a lot and my feet really need a good pair of shoes. The plan for the day was mainly to walk around Shibuya so I decided that I can at least dress up nicer for once.

Passed by this shop selling Taiyaki (鲷鱼烧) - Japanese fish-shaped cake. The shop offers fillings with red bean paste or custard, I went with custard as we are not a big fan of red bean. 

The batter is poured into a fish-shaped mold and filled with fillings. The mold is cooked on charcoal and it’s ready to serve!  

We made a short visit to the Meiji Jingu Shrine (明治神宮) before meeting up with Yuri for lunch. Took a JR train to Harajuku station and we saw the cute Hachiko bus!

Meiji Jingu Shrine is just a short walk from Harajuku station. You will know that you have arrived at the correct location when you see the mighty Torii at the entrace to Meiji Jingu Shrine.

The Meiji Shrine complex is really big and we walked for about 15 minutes to reach the main area. There are other halls and galleries within the complex with clear directions shown.

Sake Barrels

We were greeted by this water fountain once we entered the main yard of Meiji Jingu. Without any instructions given, we observed and followed what everybody was doing – scoop some water to wash both hands and take a sip of the water. It is said to ritually purify yourself before entering the shrine.

The shrine is surrounded by north, south, east and west gate. Our trek from Harajuku station leads us to enter through the South gate.

The shrine building

We made our prayer following the instructions written: flip a coin into the offering box, clap our hands together and say our prayer, then clap their hands twice we when are done.

Trying to read some of the prayers left by visitors from all over the world. 

No photos allowed - image taken from google

Before we left Meiji Jingu, we bought a few Omamori for ourselves and families to pray for their health and safety.

Opposite the Juyosho (amulet office), there are a place for visitors to return their omamori. I asked Yuri why are them returning/throwing their omamori and she explained that the omamori needs to be returned when it has served it's purpose or they normally return it one year later. Soooo.. i guess we should make a yearly trip to Japan!