Traveling with teenagers really gives you a different perspective. They have patience for some things (browsing gatchapon) and completely none for others (taking family photos).

Nowhere was this more apparent than when we took the plunge and headed to Harajuku on a Sunday, something we’d never have considered before. We thought we were prepared after the calmness of Meiji Jingu – there were crowds, but we still had our space.

Takeshita Street and Omotesando, on the other hand, was a literal sea of people. It was packed, bustling, a hundred different languages excitedly being uttered by thousands of tourists. I was wowed by how things still seemed to be calm and organized during all that. My 16 year old, in his “still finding his own look” phase, was amazed at almost every other ensemble he saw people his age group wear. It’s still Harajuku, after all.

We thought we could last still the Christmas illuminations came on, but after a late lunch we retreated to the relative sanity of our home base. 11 km of walking in total, but we had to take it easy. Yokohama is scheduled for tomorrow.