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Just a quick post to let people know that I have successfully arrived in London, and spent most of my first full day here exploring the Tower of London.

It’s taken me a little while to update, due to the fact that I didn’t think I would be able to get an internet connection that didn’t involve loitering around coffee shops using their free connections, but as it turns out, my accommodation includes free wifi! hooray! As well as the temporary phone plan for my iPhone having unlimited 3G access whilst I’m here. So they’ll be no excuses for not posting.

I should be about to post an update tomorrow with news and pics from my London adventures so far.

For my last full day in Japan, I decided to head out to Harajuku, the home of the famed Harajuku girls, but also home to one of the most impressive Shinto Shines in Tokyo. I had mixed fortunes upon arrival, with the Harajuku Girls, and their crazy fashion, seemingly brushed aside for a youth dance festival. The area surrounding the train station, as well as the main strip being over taken by performers. There were maybe a dozen or so Girls that had taken the effort to dress up in their fashions, but a least have of these were Americans trying join in rather poorly. Despite my disappointment, the dance festival did make for an entertaining day.

Harajuku appears to be a centre for youth fashion in general the streets in the surrounding areas were filled almost exclusively with clothing stores, drawing crowds comparable to Shibuya, despite the heavy rain that came through in the evening.

Practically boarding on to the train station were the grounds of the local Shinto Shine. Consisting of quiet a large nature reserve with the Shine, as well as a museum dedicated to artefacts belonging to the Imperial Family within.

Similar to the gate at the Asakusa Temple, the Shinto Gate was impressive. Normally are not to the scale of one at the main entrance to the Harajuku Shine (there were other, smaller gates around the grounds).

For 500 Yen you could buy a wooden slate to write prayers and wishes, seemingly popular with locals and tourists alike.

The grounds were remarkably dense with trees and undergrowth, there were also very few people actually walking the grounds after visiting the Shine. Besides the occasional sounds of trains passing by, you could easily forget that you were literally in the middle of Tokyo City.

One last shot of the Shinjuku station sign before I left for Narita Airport this morning. I enjoyed being able to use Shinjuku station, firstly because it services a huge number of people each day, with masses flowing in Shinjuku in the morning and away again in the evening, flowing between home and offices, I’m just a little proud of myself to know that I managed to conquer it. Secondly, because once you have conquered it, you realise that you can access almost any part of the city from this single station, with almost all others being a single transfer away.

A mix between my Lonely Planet city guide and an iPhone app which recommends a path to areas between stations meant that I was able to traverse the city without any major incidents. Looking forward to doing similar in London.