Today It is warm a 75 degree and overcast with some humidity. We are up at 7:10 and out at 8:15. For breakfast we go back to Bolange and buy a light and flaky croissant and a baguette with bacon and asparagus. 
Norman books Shibuya Sky tickets online for May 1st. We were hoping for tickets for sunset view or evening views but those sell out immediately. The only slots available were for the late morning. We book the 11:00 time slot. This morning we hop on a train and go 3 stops to Shibuya. The famous crossing street is not too crowded at 10 am. 
The Gees and I go on inside to check out the newly remodeled Starbucks. It had just reopened 5 days ago on April 25th. 
It is two floors and when you buy from the cafe on the second floor, you can sit and enjoy watching the mass of humanity crossing the street in front of the Shibuya station. The revamped venue is decorated with the green color of the logo. A curving long green ribbon of eating counter snakes through the second floor. Five minutes from Starbucks is a Mega Don Quijote.
Shirley's daughter wants some eyedrops for allergies and contact lens wear. I am familiar with the Rohto brand as Asian patients who travel overseas always show me their Rohto eyedrops when I ask what they are putting in their eyes. Rohto is the Japanese version of Visine here in the states. Rohto has been making eye products for 100 years. Originally drops were administered using two products - an eye dropper and eye drop bottle. The company was the first to invent the single container eye drop bottle. 
We go up to the cosmetic floor and find the eye products. There are so many formulas to chose from and it's hard to chose because all of the descriptions are in Japanese. Shirley and I use google translate to figure out which one to buy. There's drops for allergies, for red eyes, for dry eyes, for computer users, and for contact lens wearers. Heather wants the one with the pretty pink package called Lycee Glow. It's target audience are young women. Shirley says online reviewers claim the drops feel minty. 
I have never tried the Rohto product so I decide to buy the one for dry eye called Rohto Z as well as the Lycee Glow. I am very curious about the minty claim. The Gees continue to shop for other products and eventually they go up to the 8th floor to go to the duty free registers. My purchase is too small to qualify so Mike pays for the eyedrops at a lower floor.
We head back to the Shibuya station, walking past the statue of Hachi, a dog who always met his master in front of the Shibuya station. He is memorialized because even after his master died, he devotedly waited for him at the station every day. Two movies have been made about Hachi. One of them is an Americanized version with Richard Gere as the master. It is a very touching movie that I can only bear to watch once because it is the ultimate tear jerker. I tell our group about the conversation I overheard the prior morning in which a patron at Bolange had waited one hour to dine at Ramen Nagi. I suggest that we see if there is a Ramen Nagi for us to go to for lunch. Norman searches on his phone and find one nearby. It's only a fifteen walk but it was quite a maze of overpasses, construction zones, hills and alleys. We pass by what seems to be an outdoor movie screen with families sitting on the lawn watching a show. 
Then we walked through a pretty glass enclosure. 
Norm is quite the expert navigator and soon we come upon Ramen Nagi in a small and quiet complex. There was no line and nobody sitting inside since it's only 11. You pay at a machine located outside the restaurant. 
The Gees wanted gyoza but they were out. After ordering we sat inside. The server notes your preferences. I made sure to request no green onions. I am glad I did because there was a sea of green onion on everyone else’s ramen. 
Nagi gives you lots of cha siu, more than I could finish. The cha siu was very tasty. I ordered medium richness for the broth. It was a bit too rich so next time I will ask for a lower level. 
I requested no spice while the rest of the group ordered mild spice. 
Shirley noted beads of sweat on Norm’s forehead.
Back at the Shibuya station the Gee went to the 6th floor of shops to buy the city candles at Diptyque. You wait to be allowed to go inside to browse. I wait outside while the Gees makes a purchase. This location is not crowded at all. It is a surprisingly small boutique.. 
We head to Ponte Seto Umi to buy the special soy sauce again. I am envisioning getting four more bottles. But it’s closed! We wonder if they are closed for Golden Week. (to explain Golden Week, imagine if Memorial Day, 4th of July, Labor Day, and Indigenous Day happened to take place within a one week span - a lot of people would just take the whole week off. That's what Golden Week is about, four Japanese holidays occur between April 29 to May 5th. It just made sense for workers and their companies to take the other days in between as a holiday as well.
The term "Golden" may have been in reference to the leisure industry noticing a spike in consumer usage, leading a film director to dub the week as a "Golden" time for them. 
Norm read on Reddit that a store in Ginza called Matsuya Ginza, may sell Yamaroku Shoyu. We walk back to station and hop onto a train. On our way to the store we pass by the famous Kabukiza Theater where a classical form of Japanese theater, kabuki theater is shown. 
The Matsuya Ginza grocery store on floor B2 only has the soy sauce in the 100 ml gift size. The gift size cost 540 yen. I buy five bottles. The Gees buy three. Unlike the 500 ml bottle, the label on the smaller bottle does not have the double gold cranes. We ask the sales lady more than once to confirm that it's the same product as the large bottle. 
There are tempting treats on this food floor. 
Outside the shopping complex we walk along Chuo Dori Street. It is closed to car traffic and is a large pedestrian zone where you can sit in the middle of the street and people watch. 
We go back to the hotel to rest, do laundry and I, to blog. For dinner we head back to Shibuya for sushi and shopping. Located on the fourth floor of the Mark City East shopping plaza, Sushi no Midori has a queue of people sitting down and waiting. Mike and I left the Gees to go in search of another dining option as we are not sushi aficionados. Sushi no Midori has the conveyor belt that snakes through the restaurant. You grab your item off the belt as it passes slowly in front of you. The conveyor belt dining concept was developed by a restaurateur in Osaka almost seventy years ago. This extremely popular chain sells good quality sushi for moderate prices. Unfortunately the restaurant's popularity make for long queues. You need to pull a ticket before queuing and the Gees soon found out there were no tickets to be had. Before Mike and I had made a decision on where to eat, the Gees came to join us in our search for dinner. We chose Ginza Lion, a beer and wine grill. The portions are fairly large, but we still had room to order a baguette. 
After dinner we go back to Shinjuku and shop at Daiso and Don Quijote. We find a medium size tote bag at Donki for bringing back our purchases, as well as luggage covers with Japanese design. Before heading to our rooms for the evening we stop by nearby McDonald's and enjoy a soft serve cone. 
This featured blog entry was written by Helen K. from the blog Japan Trip 2024.
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