[Tokyo Fall 2008] Shimokitazawa - part 2

A couple of days ago I mentioned I really enjoyed the cool little shops in Shimokitazawa, and since Japanese Yen was really "expensive" when we were in Japan, I tried to control myself as not to shop too much... hence I focused more on the interesting little things on the streets, buildings, and signages... hmmm.

There were many small weaving streets in Shimokitazawa, and with each turn there's something cool and fun to look at:


Lovely birds at the side of the street.


NOCE is usually a fairly "elegant-looking" furniture store... and in Shimokitazawa it was in a cool, more "indie" looking building. I believe they intentionally made the building look a bit run-down. (?)


Notice the cute little nordic(?) doll in front of the zakka shop?


Cute duckling cafe sign.


A zakka shop with red fence, a cute little coffee sign, and a bold red coffee and cake sign. The coffee shop was up the stairs on the right.


I believe the shop sells spaghetti. (!)


Cute Zoff (a glasses/contacts chain) sign. Cute cute cute.


Even the Keio Inokashira Line sign at the Shimokitazawa station looked vintage, retro, and cool.

I love the streets in Shimokitazawa!

[Tokyo Fall 2008] Shimokitazawa - part1

I had read about Shimokitazawa prior to going to Tokyo, and knew that there were cool little zakka stores, coffehouses, and indie shops in the area.

The first morning we were in Tokyo, we bought the tickets to Miyazaki's Ghibli Museum, and off we went to Shimokitazawa first for the day.

We to JR to Shibuya from Ikebukuro, and then found the Keio Inokashira Line:


I love the retro color of the trains.


This is the street we saw when we stepped out of the station.


We had our first (and only) Mister Donuts this trip. The skinny ones were limited edition donuts.


Then we saw a cool little coffee roaster. They had very good selections of beans. We were hoping that the shop could make us some single origin coffees, but it was only offering blends at the time. I think most of the sales here were through bags of beans.


Cute little things around the area. I believe this was someone's house.


A coffee and pastry cafe.

There were cool stores that looked really indie and unique:





A restaurant of some sort.


A zakka store.


A shoe store.


A rice cracker shop.

I really enjoyed the vibe of Shimokitazawa. There were many people and stores in the area, but it never seem too busy or crowded. Cute little place! If you're a zakka fan, you'll totally fall in love with Shimokitazawa.