I Explore Tokyo’s Trendiest Neighborhood that Most Tourists Miss!! || Shimokitazawa

I Explore Tokyo’s Trendiest Neighborhood that Most Tourists Miss!! || Shimokitazawa

hello everybody i had plans to hang out with a friend today hello Nico she’s here and we are in one of my favorite areas Shimokita Zawa which I think is a pretty underrated area i actually used to have a friend who lived here but much like my childhood they are gone but the memories remain and because of that I know a lot of really cool places I thought I’d just share with you guys maybe encourage you to check out this area when you visit Tokyo cuz a lot of people miss it on their first trip but I don’t think you should so with that being said let’s explore so we haven’t even you know it’s been about 10 seconds since that first intro clip and the first thing we are showing is there’s brand new little hallway of restaurants they built from the station and Nico here has not had lunch yet so she knows a good bow bun place and I don’t usually come to this place because it’s new and new things mean they’re less good than the old things that’s how traveling usually works but it’s pretty fun it’s flashy it looks good in pictures so stop number one this alley thingy right across from the station oh show this this is cool clearly see what attracted Nico’s attention so this is not the place I want to go to across the hall from it but uh I am an alcoholic and they sell these like big buckets of cocktails over here or if you’re not into cocktails I’ve never gotten the cocktail ones cuz I’m just like somehow it’s Japan so even though it’s literally a bucket I feel like it’s going to have like 0.9% alcohol in it it’s pretty watered down you get a bucket i usually get the bucket of beer the beer bucket cuz it’s all alcohol baby I’m getting what I pay for one of my favorite things to do is actually to sit outside so we’re actually sitting out in the little hallway area so you can people watch as people But we are at a Chinese dumpling place um they have about every different type of Asian food like Thai Chinese the other ones that exist as well um and Nico would you like to introduce because this is her choice yeah sure so I don’t remember the name of this place probably because it’s in Chinese a lot of Chinese are hard they’re very difficult i’ll like put it like here or something like that when I can find it they have a couple of locations but I think this one is the best one they’ve got really good like soup dumplings which are really fun to eat because they hurt you they do painful if you eat them too quickly yeah like you kind of have to stab it with your chopstick and then like drain the soup and then eat the dumpling cuz the soup’s literally like boiling inside so if you are not aware and you take a big bite of it you’re going to have like boiling water aside from that they have also like really yummy like they’ve got spring rolls that I like these like kind of chives one really good gza i’m sure it’s not called gza there’s like a million different names for gza yeah they do like fried and steamed all around very very good also Nico is so sweet it was just my birthday so she brought me a little birthday present oh my gosh girl do you guys know what this is the guys probably don’t for ladies an eyehadow palette i think it’s Korean but I’m not sure oh my god it’s gorgeous i love how this like so perfectly suits like my taste but also Nico nico loves cake thank you so much you’re welcome happy birthday thank you thank you and I got a question for for people um I think girls are really easy to buy presents for because it’s it’s like um beauty bath and like fashion she got me a bath bombs for Christmas too so whenever a girl Oh jewelry and jewelry yeah it’s like whenever a girl has a birthday it’s always pretty easy for me to get them a present guys it’s always like an Amazon gift card for me because I struggle so hard what to buy them like you know I know them pretty well yes my dude friends i know them well but I’m like I don’t even I can’t have a clue on what you want so it’s Amazon gift card so what’s a good default guy my guys would like and stuff i will get them like housewarming stuff sometimes yeah wine or something like that yeah wine’s always good but do guys think that too like is it the same for y’all yeah that’s true like do you think girls are easier to buy presents for than dudes like is that And what do you buy for your guy friends yeah like are you like oh it’s easy is it just a fishing pole should I just get every guy a fishing pole pokemon cards you guys all seem very much into Pokemon i’m into Pokemon too i mean yeah but it’s like every man I’ve ever met girls it’s a toss up whether or not you’re But every boy I’ve ever met is like obsessed with Pokemon uh that’s Yeah you guys can let me know and let Nico know i’ll be paying attention okay our next stop and fear not anime fans if you do not get all your fill in Akihabara this is a really popular anime store called Village Vanguard and they have a bunch of anime nerd stuff you know not that I would know about that i am a normie through and through and you know anime is just for y’all’s benefit but I think I am gonna try a gotcha machine i hardly ever do them but they are kind of fun every once in a while so there’s so many to choose from i always like to pick an anime I like like illustrations and we bring you in Nico’s favorite i don’t know what that is is an Instagram artist that I like my phone case used to be so they have obscure stuff too i was about to talk about the basic stuff hiq i like HiQ as an anime um but my favorite characters aren’t in it very much which is kind of sad for me my problem with H HighQ actually and I might be alone in this is the team the main team here Kuraso they’re like my least favorite team i’m always rooting for the enemy team so that’s my main problem with this show let’s see what else they have windbreakers have you all seen Windbreakers everyone’s obsessed with this main character guy called Sakura my favorite though is Umeia I think his name is he’s the same voice actor as Gojo from You don’t even know his name i’m not a huge fan of the show like I said normie i’m a normie but he’s the same voice actor as Gojo from Ju Tyson you know actually I think this is an important life lesson that you shouldn’t just spend money because you can there’s nothing that truly interests me and in the interest of not wasting my hard-earned 300 yen I think I am going to abstain from playing any gotcha i’ll find other ways to feed my gambling habit which I don’t have actually clearly my goal in life is always to find either a Freden t-shirt a Gintama t-shirt i already have a Hunter Hunter t-shirt it was like my favorite anime and they were ever elusive and I’ve never found one so that is the goal today although I’m not I’m not hopeful honestly so San Rio though they always they always have San Rio it’s very very popular here nico loves San Rio these are bside label stickers they have these everywhere and they always have all the popular like anime characters and stuff and look they have him all the greatest character of all time he’s perfect so I’m going to get a sticker how much my sticker was that’s right 300 yen so my lesson earlier about saving my 300 yen for something that I truly want well that’s what Hima would have done really yeah it’s cute okay yay okay so right behind me is the other big thing Shimokawa is known for which is secondhand clothes shopping so we’re going to do some clothes shopping but a caveat of this is to remember that secondhand used things in Japan are of still very very high quality because everyone treats their items with respect so with very very high quality comes very very high prices so don’t think we’re getting like super cheap stuff but it’s still fun to shop around and try to find like trendy and cool things as well but don’t think it’s going to be like you know like a run halfworn tattered t-shirt for two bucks that’s not exactly what it’s like nico likes this place because of the cute skirts they always have here little hard rock you know yeah it’s cute it’s kind of giving Harry Potter though guys check out my super exciting fashion sense this is what a diva stylist I am i love this giant gray basic over like hoodie is perfect i hood hoodie sweatshirt jumper parka Venezuela i don’t know there’s a bunch of different names for them but this is what drew my eye not that I think I needed to go to some like fancy secondhand store for it i think I’m going to get this cuz it’s comfy i don’t have a black long sleeve or gray long sleeve shirt so Behold Marvel and my fashion sense so as is tradition when you’re out in Tokyo you’ll pretty much always come to a cafe and this one’s really cute it is called Sunday Brunch and Japan is known for having different times of the year where different types of flowers bloom and this cafe matches that time of the year with the flowers they always have a special menu right now we’re still on Sakura or cherry blossom season so the menu is cherry blossom themed i have been here once before when it was hydranger season so if you want to check that out I have a video here where I visit it and they always have really cool fruitsy pictures very Instagrammable type drinks they also have other stuff too we’re looking at the Sakura set right here so they have a parfait a sakura cake different teas and they have a couple things they always have like matcha cakes and they have a whole food menu too french toast which is a very Japanese cafe thing and of course they have your standard coffee menu i’m actually going to try this one right here it says it’s a furu punchi tea so fruits punch tea and they have a fruit punch soda as well and also they also have basic coffees and stuff but that’s kind of crazy to come here and just get a basic coffee I gotta say so don’t don’t do that go to a you know specialty coffee place if you’re going to get that but yeah I’m excited okay so we got our drinks i got my fruit punch tea and Nico got the much more visually impressive oh did you sakura sakura parfait uh cream soda cream soda cream sodas are so popular in Japan they have like certain different types of them smell what makes a cream soda the ice cream is the cream part of that um I do not know i don’t because I don’t know if it’s handcrafted or not because normally cream sodas are like you make it like that okay i’m trying to figure out how to drink this that’s a straw you just took out is that a straw yes it is oh it’s a straw why do you take I thought it was a mixer you took the straw and you go “How do you drink this?” Like the thing i thought it was a mixer you know like one of those if you get in a cocktail very very tasty though and how is yours oh yours comes with a straw too i see yeah that’s cream soda that’s cream soda right feel about like these places you get it for the vibe a lot of the times instead of it being the most amazing tasting drink ever they didn’t give me a spoon thanks So if y’all haven’t noticed in Chimo one of the things I like about it a lot is that there’s a lot of outdoor seating which in Tokyo can be kind of rare and they actually have some areas that are just completely outside where you can get like different food or a drink and I The weather is finally for the first time in a long time nice enough to sit outside and enjoy the sun setting so this is a cute little kind of half beer garden type thing so we’re going to get a drink and enjoy the sounds of children running around screaming and throwing soccer balls back and forth okay well we got our beers come by come by it was actually happy hour so originally 770 yen but it was half price so for two both of them was 770 yen which is like five bucks or something for both the beers so kind of pretty cheap it’s nama in Japan it’s always just nama like what what do you have on top what like IPAs do you have the answer is always nama which means like it’s like with NMA beer it’s like it’s almost always a Sapoor this does not taste like either i got to say my beer knowledge is not expensive enough i will defer to Nikico’s this tastes like an IPA um damn i guess it’s Shimokita IPA it didn’t like say anything the name on the menu was literally just beer i know north Carolina’s got like a bunch of like craft Oh yeah in Austin Texas they have like a million a lot of like craft beer places so it’s like you got I can’t remember any of their names but like Astronaut Lady in a red dress dancing on one skull one i know all my IPAs i’m very knowledgeable skull one mountain skull one mountain one cherry blossom Japan one that has nothing to do with Japan dinner time y’all and for dinner we’re having okonomiyaki which if you don’t know what it is it’s like an egg cabbage pancake which I get doesn’t sound that good but I promise it’s delicious i really like this place Don doman da and they make it right in front of you and you don’t have to make it yourself which some okonomyaki places make you make it yourself i don’t prefer that i like it when they make it for me and it’s delicious so let’s go so as I mentioned before I like this place not only because it is some of the tastiest okonomiyaki I have had but if you sit at the counter which I always try to they’re literally like less than a foot away from you and they make it all right in front of you kind of like habachi girls in America except they don’t really do the whole night performance the volcano that’s not really a Japanese thing at all i was very disappointed to find out that’s that’s very much a western thing i asked my Japanese friend once like “Oh do you like habachi?” No idea they had no idea what I was talking about but this is a pretty this is pretty good too and it’s a more authentic experience anyways um make sure you’re not wearing your favorite clothes because you will have the lovely smoky scent of okonamiyaki wafting all throughout your clothes and hair after you eat here but it’s worth it i promise well anyways guys those are some of my favorite things to do in Shimoki Desawa i hope you enjoyed it i hope um it gave you some good ideas if you ever decide to visit and check out the area and thank you to my friend Nico for joining me today and I will see you guys later john it

Today I’m showing off one of my favorite areas in Tokyo, Shimokitazawa! It’s known for it’s trendy 2nd hand shops and cozy cafes! Check it out cause a lot of people miss it on their first trip to Tokyo!

My Insta: https://www.instagram.com/lysa_kay/
Nico’s Insta: https://www.instagram.com/nico.puddin/

00:00 – Welcome to Shimokitazawa
00:23 – Dumplings for Lunch
03:54 – Anime Shopping
06:06 – 2nd Hand Clothes Shopping
07:30 – Cafes and Parfaits
09:50 – Beer Garden
11:25 – Okonomiyaki Dinner