渋谷　Shopping Trip
I went to Shibuya on Sunday for a shopping trip with two of my friends from Toshiba.  Shibuya is one of the famous Tokyo shopping districts.  We started the day by meeting at the Shibuya Station Hachiko exit, by the dog statue.

As the story goes, many years ago there was a man that walked to Shibuya station every day to take the train to work.  His faithful dog always walked with him and waited at the West exit for the man to come back at the end of the day so they could walk home together. One day, the old man went to work and died while he was there.  His dog waited for him all night.  Even though the man never came back, the dog came to the station and waited for his master every day for the next ten years. So this statue was erected in honor of the dog, and now this are by the statue is the most famous meeting place in Shibuya.
For lunch we ate at an awesome little sushi place, using the conveyor method to serve patrons. The restaurant has an open kitchen that had about 5 chefs working in it.  As they prepare sushi the chefs put it on little plates and send it down a conveyor belt that runs by every table in the restaurant. So you can order something specific from the chefs, or you can just grab a plate off the conveyor when you see something you like!  The prices are coded by the color plates, and at the end when the girl comes to give you your bill she just has to wave a handheld machine by your stack of plates and it automatically totals up what you ate and prints your bill right there at your table.  The sushi was delicious and the chefs were very sociable and hilarious so it was a great place to eat lunch, and I will definitely be going back!

     Some delicious food we ate!

Unfortunately at this point my camera died.  But my friend took several on her phone, so later I will be able to post those- there are some pretty great ones!

After lunch we started our shopping at the famous 109 building, an 8 story shopping center.  We started at the top and shopped all the way down!  Next we went to what they call a "game center."  First we took pictures in the most awesome photo booths in the world.  You get to choose the lighting and other settings so that you come out looking super glamorous, and you take several shots.  Afterwards you can decorate the pictures, and then print them.  And it only costs 400 yen! While in the game center, we also played with the claw prize machines (none of us won anything :( ) and finished by playing a round on the Taiko drum arcade game.  It is similar to rock band except you are playing on big Taiko drums.  Very noisy, very fun.

We set out walking again and made our way to Harajuku to continue the shopping. We also stopped to get crepes from a street vendor, a sweet treat that Harajuku is famous for.  After finishing our shopping we went to visit the Meiji shrine.  We walked to the Iris garden first.  It is huge and absolutely gorgeous.  It is basically a big shallow stream that is planted full of irises, which were in full bloom so it was like looking at a river of purple flowers.  We also went to Kiyomasas' well.  It is considered magical because when you look at it the well appears to be completely motionless, however upon closer inspection you can see that it is pumping water.  The well was built sunk into the ground and provides continually flowing water, which follows the stream to water the Iris garden.  It is said that water from this well will bring you good fortune, so people constantly wait in line for 15 minutes to rinse their hand in the well water and take pictures with it. Although I had been to Meiji shrine a few weeks ago, this was my first time to experience the Iris garden and Kiyomasas' well, so I am very glad we went.  Hopefully I can post pictures of it soon!