Tokyo: Olympic Sites

 Well, this was a bit of a bust. The former Olympic stadium wasn't open to the public when I went, but I did get to see the structure. Pretty cool, right? :) Right across the street was Yoyogi Park, the former Olympic Village.

 I was getting hungry and there were a few street vendors set up so I thought I'd try something. I usually am a no-go on meat from street vendors, and this time was no different. I opted for something that looked like rice cakes of sorts.

 Hmm, no idea what this actually was. I've never had anything like it before and will never have anything like it again (by choice, that is). It wasn't necessarily bad, it was just weird. It had a funky texture like tofu, but lots of vegetables that I didn't recognize inside. And it was topped with this sickly sweet syrupy sauce. I ate one of those squares, and fed the rest to a stray dog :)

 Since I still had a bit of time to kill before my flight out, I wandered the park. I saw people dressed up as Santa preparing for a run and lots and lots of trees.

And there was a pretty pond. It started to rain about 10 minutes into my walk. I had all of my belongings with me, no umbrella. So I just got wet. Cold and wet, a fun combination.

Tokyo: Shibuya (Harajuku) Takeshita Dori

Shibuya is one of the trendiest areas of Tokyo--and one of the busiest. I got here by metro--to the Shibuya station. This was actually the start of my little walking tour of Tokyo. I started by exiting at Hachikō. I took this exit for 2 reasons: the statue (below) and to see Shibuya crossing.

 This statue was put up after a faithful dog who'd greet his owner here daily. Once the owner passed away, the dog would still wait outside for him to come home. You can read more about the dog's story here.

 Here's Shibuya Crossing--one of the busiest intersections in the world. Every few minutes, the lights turn red in every direction, and people scramble across the street in every direction. There's even a diagonal crossing. I actually stood outside for about 5 minutes observing the chaos. Then, I jumped right in and crossed the street. It is a madhouse. Organized chaos, but crazy watching and being shuffled around amongst all those people.

After crossing the street, I visited the Disney Store, Meiji Shrine, former Olympic Stadium, Yoyogi Park, and Harajuku. You know, Harajuku girls. They dress up like dolls? I unfortunately didn't see any during my visit (it was a Saturday morning...not really a "hip" time to be out I guess) but I pulled a few pictures from the internet.

 They also had lots of costume shops like the one above. Tokyo is a very quirky place.

 One of the cool things to do in the area is eat a crepe. Seriously, every 5 feet there was a little crepe stand.

Oh, and i thought this was funny. Tamagotchi donuts--anyone else remember these? :)