After the travel pass fiasco yesterday, I decided to take the rest of the day off. It might sound dramatic to equate a family day of tourism with work that requires taking leave, but the concoction of unresolved anger from the day before and the guilt from the morning’s debacle made it abundantly clear that I needed some space.
In retrospect, it was the right call. While I spent the day recharging, the others returned exhausted and drenched from a long, rainy, and mostly uneventful outing. By the next morning, I was free of all lingering frustration, feeling refreshed, lighthearted, and ready to roll.
In my experience starting early always makes a day more productive, and today was no different. Despite our resolve to set out at 7am, the family was running late. Since I was ready relatively early, I decided to get a head start and get some solo time to explore before meeting the others at our first destination.
This turned out to be an excellent decision. It might be a stretch to compare it to meditation, but honestly, it came pretty close. I got to escape the inevitable morning chaos at home (I did feel bad for Mama — he was also ready on time but chose to stay back to hurry everyone along). And while I hadn’t minded tagging along with the group so far, it was nice to do my own thing, even if just for a little while.
Starting the day in peace set the tone for everything that followed.
I’d looked up a cozy little coffee shop near the Tokyo Metropolitan Government Building, where I was supposed to meet the others (there’s a viewing deck on the 45th floor with tremendous views of the city). The already-tiny café was packed, but I had a wholesome chat with the barista while waiting for my takeaway. It was a solid cappuccino and an even better start to the day.
Meanwhile, the rest of the family had had a much rougher morning. With Mama rushing everyone out of the house, they hadn’t even had breakfast and by the time we finished at the observation deck, hunger had made everyone cranky.
Until now, it had been an unspoken rule that we did everything together. But today, I saw the perfect opportunity to challenge that assumption — and it worked.
The next stop was a cat café, which Eva and I were particularly excited about. It served drinks, which, combined with the obvious allure of cats, was enough to convince Eva to head straight there. The grown-ups, on the other hand, were more focused on finding food. Hunger must have softened their resistance because, for the first time, they readily agreed when we suggested splitting up and meeting later.
The cat cafe was a blast (except when I made the mistake of reaching inside a cat’s house and got swiped at). I’m actually glad it was just the two of us there. The adults had found a shoe store they were all somehow interested in and then settled at a burger place with vegetarian options — a rare win, considering food had been a recurring struggle with most of the group being vegetarian. Mami finally found a burger she liked, a breakthrough that had eluded us the entire trip.
Since we’d tackled different things in parallel, we stayed on schedule for the next part of the day. Now in Harajuku, we once again made the smart choice to split up. Mama, Mami, and Chachu went to Meiji Jingu Shrine (duh) and the surrounding forest, while Mom and Eva, having seen Takeshita Street all over Instagram reels, were eager to check it out.
I had designed the day with this in mind. Mom and Eva were both quite into watching Japan travel reels on Instagram, and both had lists of things they wanted to do. It was my job to take those lists and weave them into our daily itineraries along with Mama’s and everyone else’s input efficiently so as to get as many things done as possible. With this newly unlocked added benefit of parallelization, we were covering ground fast.
I had a plan of my own. We’d been walking more than usual, and while my shoes were incredibly comfortable in short bursts, they had started to hurt my feet over time. A friend had recently raved about Hoka shoes, and since their showroom was nearby, I decided to swing by.
At Hoka, there was a 3D foot analysis machine that told me I had flat feet. I’d gone in thinking it was a shoe problem, but it was actually a me problem. Luckily, the fix was simple — insoles. I’d seen my dad use them for my brother when he discovered the same issue a few years ago, so I knew they worked. Consider my time well spent.
The six of us had agreed to meet at Harajuku station at a designated time. We’d recalibrated since the original decision, since none of the groups were going to be finished on time, but Mama’s group and I met punctually at the newly decided time, followed by Mom and Eva not long after.
It was refreshing to see everyone so genuinely happy about where they’d been. Until today we’d all gone everywhere together, but every attraction had only truly interested a portion of the group. Since we had this newfound freedom to choose today, we were all much more enthusiastic about where we went.
Without the stress of running late, we took an impromptu break at the rooftop terrace of the popular Tokyu Plaza. We recharged — literally, in some cases, as Mama and Chachu even dozed off for a bit. The terrace view was also fantastic, overlooking a four-way junction in the heart of Harajuku, like a miniature Shibuya crossing.
Speaking of Shibuya, we ended up there in the evening and, even a day early, spotted plenty of people in Halloween costumes. Halloween isn’t a big deal in India, and even in the UK, I haven’t seen much of it in recent years, so seeing people in costume — especially ones we recognized — was a fun experience.
The real festivities would be tomorrow night, though, so there was no point sticking around until midnight waiting for things to shift. Plus, we’d been out since early morning, and despite the mid-day break, fatigue was catching up to us. For once, we returned home at a reasonable hour — completely content with how the day had unfolded and ready to wake up well-rested for whatever came next.