Some places to visit in Omotesando/Harajuku

Last week I was really lucky and I had the chance to meet many many awesome people! 

METI (ministry of trade & industry of japan) invited a group of influencers from all over Asia to experience fashion in Japan as part of the Cool Japan initiative, and I was helping with the project! hehe. 佑群老師, Melissa May, Aiai, Cheesie, Xiaxue, QiuQiu, Tricia Gosingtian, Laureen Uy, Camille Co, Stella Lee, Lala Wang... aslkdaslkdjaw all these people in one trip you kidding me?! Imagine how happy I was when I found out I was going to be able to join this trip as well.

So since Harajuku/Omotesando is like the fashionable area in Tokyo, a lot of the activity was held around that area. I felt kind of bad for Melissa because it was her first time in Tokyo and we went to like Harajuku 3 out of 6 days lol.So anyway some pictures from the various tours!
(links to the places are at the bottom~)

 Melissa, Laoshi and I At Kiddyland in Harajuku. The line soft toys were super cute lah :D

Melissa and Cheesie outside La Foret. Omg prettiness overload.

La Foret is like the trendiest shopping mall in Harajuku! Must visit if you want to see what Japanese fashion looks like.

This was in some back lane of Harajuku which had a lot of cool shops but honestly I don't remember where because I got a two-shotto (picture of 2 people together) with laoshi!

We also visited omotesando Hills, house to many famous brands and the hottest chocolatier in town, Max Brenner.

See all those umbrellas in a line outside? Here's how it really looked like:

Even on a rainy day the queue was so long! 

So I, being the kiasu Singaporean, decided to buy one of the small tins to try haha

I got a small tin of Hazelnut Chocolate with caramelised bit aptly named "addiction". Really smooth and addictive. But Kinder Bueno will always be my favourite!

One of the days we met up with staff members from United Arrows to take a stroll around Omotesando and talk about fashion with Melissa and 佑群老師, (who is SO nice and accomodating and knew so much about Japan. I was supposed to be facilitating the trip but I ended up learning about Japan from him instead...). 

Group picture outside Tokyu Plaza in harajuku!  Tokyu Plaza houses Bills', which I had posted about here a while back, and lots of very nice casual/girly brands :D

In case you were wondering, "wtf since when was Shion so fashionable that she gets meet with such awesome people to talk about fashion?!", you're right; I was more of a facilitator lah hahahaha. But I still did my best to  give constructive input on fashion in Singapore (or the lack of it) okay! 

After walking around Omotesando and Tokyu Plaza a while, we decided to move our discussion to a cafe where we could talk comfortably without freezing. Srsly, march already why still so cold?!

 We were going to this cafe near cat street that by recommendation of the UA staff and laoshi but it was full :( So we went to Milk Cafe.

 (note to self: check that place out soon. I don't know the name of that place but it's right on the streets of omotesando so I remember where it is!)

Someone had booked the place from 6pm so we could only stay for an hour.

It actually wasn't my first time here because I had been to their branch in Shibuya, but the ladies from UA told us that MilkCafé is actually run by dokumo (読者モデル; fashionable people on the street scouted to be part time models) so all the staff are SUPER good looking. I mean it. No wonder I was dazed by the staff first time I went there. Jk. I didn't take pictures though. Trying to be professional, haha.

The interior also had a very classic feel to it. They were screening old disney cartoons on the wall!

Okay I stole this picture from youqun laoshi cos I was very majime (focused, hardworking, concentrating in work) and resisted all my urges to take photos.

After ordering our stuff we talked about an hour about trends in japan and Thailand and Taiwan. So interesting. Apparently what considered as kind-of-heavy make up in Japan is natural looking in Thailand! Something like that:

People in Thailand must wear pretty thick make up *o*

Also, sneakers are like super in in Japan. Though I bet you knew that already. But trendy people will wear them with striped socks. Like that:

I really like this style though I think I will never be able to pull it off because I'm too short :(

Had a super fun time talking about trends in different countries while flipping Jelly (gyaru-ish style) and Haco(muji looking style)! I think besides the makeup, Thailand is quite similar to a Singapore hm.

One last group shot! :) Excuse to get a picture with laoshi and all the pretty ladies hehe. 

I had a vanilla latte here and it was pretty nice, the pretty ladies from UA had omurice and it looked yummy too. Too bad I didn't take any pictures.

Anw last week was so fun! So busy with presentations and stuff but I got to meet so many awesome people. Missing them already. Maybe I'll update with more! I forgot my camera on a few days though ...

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These are the places we visited, for anyone's interested!

Tokyu Plaza: http://omohara.tokyu-plaza.com/en/

Kiddyland: http://www.kiddyland.co.jp/en/index.html 

Lots of cute stationary, soft toys, random stuff!

Omotesando Hills: http://www.omotesandohills.com/english/

La Foret: http://www.laforet.ne.jp/en/

Milk Cafe: http://www.milkcafe.jp.net (click on Access to see the map to get there)

I'd recommend this place if you just want to have a break and chill in Harajuku after shopping, and have some eye candy to go along with it :'D They have a branch in Shibuya too which is more accessible I guess.

United Arrows: http://www.united-arrows.jp/index.html