Tokyo, Japan: A Day in this Shopper's Paradise, a peaceful moment at the Imperial Palace, and an exciting Yomiuri Giants Game Experience
- That's How We Travel
- Mar 22
- 2 min read
Updated: Apr 6
Summary. On our fourth day in Tokyo, we spent the day shopping, took a break to appreciate the tranquility of the Imperial Palace Grounds, and then went to an over-the-top, animated Yomiuri Giants game.
[This blog is part of a 15-days in Japan series].
Shibuya Scramble Crossing. This intersection is known for being the world's busiest intersection with as many as 3000 people crossing on any given green light. We stopped here for the experience, opting to then grab coffee down the street instead of shopping in the stores nearby. The shopping here is primarily all your common stores available in most places so we would say that if you're short on time, skip this stop on our itinerary.
Takeshita. Next, we traveling over to equally touristy spot, Takeshita Street. However, unlike Shibuya, this shopping district had many uniquely Japanese stores and experiences.
The photo above is an animal cafe with baby piglets. The video below demonstrates how bustling this street is, even though we visited during a shoulder season. Nonetheless, it was enjoyable to browse the shop windows, and if you're in search of souvenirs, there are plenty of choices available here.
Udon Iroha. For lunch we stopped at this affordable and tasty Udon restaurant located in the Takeshita area.
Imperial Palace. While a couple of us stayed to shop more, the other part of our group headed over to the Imperial Palace to walk the garden grounds. The Imperial Palace has housed Japan's emperors since 1868. There are also several shaded bench areas throughout the grounds, where we rested our feet and took in the scenery.
Yomiuri Giants and Tokyo Dome. The highlight of the day going to see the Yomiuri Giants play at their home field, Tokyo Dome. Tickets sell out quickly so this one of those things you need to plan well in advance.
Inside, we observed that we were nearly the only non-local fans at this sold-out game. This surprised us because it's truly an experience not to be missed, particularly if you enjoy baseball as much as we do. The concessions offer typical baseball game choices, but also feature uniquely Japanese options, such as the Octopus balls shown in the middle photo below.
A Japanese baseball game includes entertaining elements such as cheerleaders, live pep bands, and flag bearers, all of which reminded us of a college football game.
The best part of attending these games live is listening to the crowd sing distinctive songs for each player at bat. It's an amazing experience to hear thousands of fans performing different tunes whenever a player comes up to the plate! Since we weren't fans of the Yomiuri Giants, the game's result wasn't particularly important to us. Nevertheless, with such an enthusiastic crowd, it was easy to get swept up in the excitement.
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