Tokyo April 7-10 – day 4

Our fourth day was meant to be another day trip, this one to visit the Toshogu shrine in Nikko. But with the prognosis of constant rain and a temperature of less than three degrees, we decided to go with a Tokyo indoor activity day. So leisurely breakfast at Starbucks, umbrella shopping in Lawson and a visit to Harry’s Hedgehog Café, where the baby hedgehog fell asleep on our hands – ooooch 🦔. Next was Shibuya Crossing, Tokyo’s most iconic intersection. Not necessarily an indoor location but very nice with all the umbrellas crossing the five crosswalks at the same time. There is a great outdoor viewing platform at Mag’s Park that came with a cheerful staffer continuously cleaning the glass panels to allow for good crossing views. Looking for a nice bowl of hot ramen, we accidentally went to the most popular Ramen restaurant in Shibuya, Ichiran Ramen. Their Ramen is a tasty pork-based broth with thin flour-based noodles and topped with sliced pork, egg and signature sauce. Forbes calls it the best Ramen in the world. After a long wait outside, we made it into the tiny basement restaurant, to choose our Ramen combo at a ticket automat. Then there is a checklist to select your choice of spiciness, softness of the noodles, and so on. Finally, we were led to tiny booths where the Ramen was passed through a gap in the front of the booth, that then was closed with a bamboo curtain to allow for optimal privacy to fully focus on the taste of ones Ramen. If this seems a long description for food, it’s because of the overall interesting experience. Next was a visit at the digital art museum teamLab Borderless. It is a world of art without boundaries, where over 10’000 sqm the different three-dimensional artworks merge with each other. They move through the different rooms and interact with the people in there. It’s totally awesome! We need one of those somewhere in Europe asap so we can go again.