As an elder millennial, I first heard of Harajuku when Gwen Stefani started singing about it, and incorporating Harajuku style into her performances some 25 years ago! I was hooked – I started copying the style (back in my student days at least) and said I would visit Harajuku one day.

It only took 20 years, one husband, 4 house moves and 2 kids, but we did it! Harajuku is considered a tourist trap – it’s crowded and chaotic, packed full of tourists, especially at the weekends. But it’s also stylish, colourful, and over the top.

In this post i’m sharing our personal experience – what worked, what didn’t, and what we did differently when we went again.

As you walk through the streets here (I use the word walk loosely, rather you are carried along by the crowd) all of your senses are stimulated. The smell of the brightly coloured junk food, the noise of the k-pop music pumping from the shops, and your eyes are on stalks because there’s so much to see and do.

If you’re looking for a full family-friendly guide to Harajuku – with all the best cafes, shops, and play spots – check out my full post: Harajuku with Kids – The Best Things To Do for the Whole Family.

Things To See And Do In Harajuku

Harajuku is fundementally a shopping district. You visit to shop and to eat. But it’s so much more than that! It’s also one of the busiest places we visited not only in Tokyo but in Japan. Honestly, when I saw the crowds I nearly called it a day and turned around before we’d even started.

What I most wanted to see was the street style. This is what i’d been dreaming off since I was a teenager (I won’t say how many, many years ago). The youth culture in Harajuku is iconic and one of the most exciting experiences of being here (for me at least) was to see the various lolitas all dressed up.

I didn’t take any photos of these girls though (and I would advise you don’t either, unless you have their permission). Just like the geisha in Kyoto, these are people and they don’t deserve to be harassed by tourists! Unlike in Kyoto there weren’t any signs telling you not to take photos, but honestly I think its just good manners!

What About The Kids?

If I was in Harajuku for the fashion, the boys were there for the fun! The boys favourite thing to do in Harajuku was to visit all of the gatcha machine stores.

Like most kids who visit Japan they were quickly obsessed with these little machines, and you’re spoilt for choice in this part of the city, there were dozens of stores filled with gatcha machines here.

We also did a little shopping and there is plenty of kawaii culture here- the boys were in their element with all the plushies. I loved the Sanrio store (my love of Sanrio is well documented) but if its not sexist to say so I think the shops were more tailored to girls than boys: lots of jewellery, cute hair accessories, cute key chains. Stuff tweenage girls (including my neice) would have spent hours cooing over, but not really anything that interested the buys.

In terms of the fashion options, I was pleasantly surprised to see that a lot of the stores carried ‘western sized’ clothes – by which I mean clothes that my very ‘mum shaped’ body could fit into!

I really liked the shop Punyus (I wasn’t at all insulted that that’s the Japanese word for chubby!) which had loads of brightly coloured, kawaii clothes I ended up buying, bringing home, and never being brave enough to wear in the UK!

It’s also worth taking time out and stepping back from the modern Tokyo and into the ancient one. The Togo Shrine is just behind the public toilets on the main shopping street of Harajuku and its well worth taking time out to explore.

It’s like a little oasis of calm in the chaos of the city. Despite being so close to such a crowded tourist hotspot, it isn’t crowded here. It is beautiful and feels tranquil.

The Food In Harajuku

When you type in Harajuku into social media the first thing that pops up is a rainbow of fun and colourful food. Nowadays this seems to be what Harajuku is most known for. And this is plentiful!

We ate the viral rainbow candy floss, I drank strawberry juice from a strawberry, while the kids embraced their inner child and drank from babies bottles (I’m not really sure why, but this was super popular). The boys loved the candy floss (of course they did! Its effectively sugar as big as their head) but I didn’t think much of the other viral food options: they looked much better than they tasted.

But it’s important to note that behind these viral food photos there are queues. Endless, impossibly long queues. We queued for 40 minutes, up tiny stairs, to get our hands on that candy floss. We don’t queue that long for anything in Disneyland!

But the boys had their eyes on the prize and they were determined they were going to wait (I would have been happy to give it a miss, but they knew what they wanted!)

So if you want to try the food spots, be prepared for a long wait. And remember that just because something looks idyllic online doesn’t mean it actually is.

Once we’d finished with the viral junk food spots, we saw the Sanrio Pompom Purin Cafe (But didn’t go in because we had a reservation elsewhere) and if you want to visit an animal cafe then this is the place to be.

We visited the Miipig cafe to pet the micropigs and it was amazing, one of the highlights of our time in the area. You do need a reservation to visit, and you can see my full post on how to get a reservation and what the experience was like here.

Why You Should Visit Harajuku

You don’t need to spend a whole day in Harajuku: in fact, I would advise that you didn’t especially if you don’t have a lot of time in your itinerary in Tokyo. A couple of hours is enough – add on another hour if you plan to queue for some of the most popular food items.

If you don’t enjoy crowds then visit on a weekday rather than the weekend for the lowest crowd levels (although as you can see from these pictures, its unlikely to be crowd-free at any point). The mornings are also quieter than the afternoons, although I think that afternoons have a more fun and buzzy atmosphere.

Another top tip for making the most of your visit to Harajuku? Look up! Like so much of Tokyo this area is built upwards and there are shops and restaurants on the 2nd/3rd/4th/etc floors of the buildings. If you don’t climb up these stairs then you’ll miss so much!

Finally, if you want to see people dressed up in the unique and colourful clothing style that Harajuku is famous for (and you don’t mind crowds) then visit on Sundays. This is when the fashion centre is packed full of people wanting to see and be seen. The exit to the JR Harajuku station is a particularly good place to be!

This is Tokyo’s centre of youth and street culture. Crowded? Yes! Prices to rip off tourists? Probably! But despite the queues, the mediocre food, and the eyewatering crowd levels I still loved it. The change to walk where my idols have walked and to stand amongst those Harajuku girls I dreamed of when I was a team is something i’ll never forget, and I have no regrets about dragging the boys along for the ride too. They had a blast!

Final verdict? Harajuku has a LOT of flaws. But if you don’t visit this hub then you’ll regret it!

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