My birthday in Harajuku: Shibas, owls and cookie birthday cake

It's not exactly a secret that Harajuku is my favourite place in Tokyo. So, what better place to spend my birthday?

Yesterday on June 8th, I turned 20 years old! Turning 20 is kind of a big deal in Japan since it's the legal drinking age. I did go to an izakaya the night before to celebrate with my friends, but I was most excited to tick more things off of my Harajuku bucket list. Because believe me, there's a lottttt you can do in Harajuku. I go every week and I'm still discovering new things to see, take photos of, and eat! 

First, I went to get my cheese fix... or rather, rainbow cheese fix!

Because the only thing better than cheese is rainbow cheese!

Every time I go to Harajuku, I see adverts for this impossibly bright rainbow grilled cheese sandwich... but I'd never been able to work out where it's actually sold. On my birthday I decided it was finally time to track down this magical toasted snack.

Turns out you can buy it from a place called Rainbow Sweets Harajuku, which is just down a side street near Totti Candy Factory (the place that sells those massive rainbow cotton candies everyone likes to walk around with, myself included). It comes pre-cut, and they say you should wait a few minutes before pulling the two halves apart for a super-satisfying stringy cheese moment. And I wasn't disappointed - it really was RAINBOW! And super delicious, too.

Next we headed to one of my favourite places in Harajuku - Cookie Time!

Cookie Time is a place that deserves its own article at some point. For cookie and cookie dough lovers, Cookie Time is heaven on earth. Cookie dough milkshakes. Cookie dough ice cream. Cookie dough smores. Cookie cookie cookie everywhere. 

I'd heard rumours (maybe from their Instagram) that if you went to Cookie Time on your birthday, you'd get something amazing. And sure enough, when I went in and told the team it was my birthday, they offered me their amazing (free!) three-tiered cookie cake.

So I picked my cookie flavours (I chose chocolate chip, salted caramel and caramel fudge), and my cake preparation was underway. What I really didn't expect was for them to call the whole cafe full of customers to attention, sing happy birthday to me with backing music, and bring my cake over with a lit candle on top. It was everything. It was so cute. Cookie Time is the best place ever.

Here's a close-up of my cookie birthday cake! Candle blown out, wish made.

My cookie cake was whipped cream sandwiched between three tiers of chocolate chip, salted caramel and caramel fudge cookies, finished with rainbow sprinkles and a birthday candle on top. Isn't it adorable?

 Honestly, the staff at Cookie Time are just the best. It was my third time going and they've always been so sweet and friendly. And this was such a kind gesture, especially since I'm so far from home and am used to spending my birthday with my family. Having my own birthday cake and sing-song was like a little slice of home.

Plus, it was so yummy. 

But we had to move on - we had an appointment we just couldn't miss. 

With some Shiba inus!

If you haven't heard of Harajuku's Mame-Shiba Cafe before, it's another cafe where you play with cute animals while you forget about your free drinks. This cafe is very popular, so you actually have to buy a ticket for a specific time slot then come back later. And tickets sell out quickly. We arrived at 3:30 (before the rainbow cheese adventure) and got tickets for the next slot at 5:30.



I didn't actually take many photos at the Shiba cafe - I was kind of taking it all in. The Shibas are very playful, and really enjoy play-fighting. A lot. The staff here really had their hands full with these mischievous pups, who kept chasing each other at hyper speed through this small room full of people and yapping so loudly it could be heard from the stairway. 

But they're super cute, so what can you do?

Last but not least, we visited some extra unique furry friends - this time, owls!

I'll be honest, this one wasn't actually on the birthday agenda before we went, and I wasn't sure about it. I've seen some owl cafes where the owls are kept in cages, regularly handled by visitors, and are full of bright lights and screaming kids despite owls being very sensitive to light and noise.

Located directly below the Mame-Shiba Cafe, this place is called the Owl Forest and is definitely less like what I was fearing. My friend really wanted to go so we had a look inside before paying. Here it's quiet and the lights are low (I brightened my photos to make them clearer), the owls can't be picked up, only certain ones can be touched and they are given rest breaks. If you really want to see owls, I'd say this is one of the better places to do it.

It was definitely fun seeing the owls... many of them were so cute, and this one was hardcore judging me for taking a selfie with him.

So in summary, I had the best day being 20 in my favourite place! Of course, the highlight has to be my amazing birthday cake - thank you Cookie Time!!

Lush Harajuku: these Japan-exclusive bath bombs are sold on a sushi conveyer belt

Being from the UK, I've become kind of addicted to the British cosmetics company Lush. Luckily for me, here in Japan they not only have Lush, but also a super unique store in Harajuku. And it's jam-packed with exclusive bath bombs inspired by Japanese culture!

If you haven't heard of Lush, it's an all-natural, cruelty-free cosmetics company from the UK. You might have seen their extravagant bath bombs, capable of turning your bath into anything from a starry galaxy to a sparkly rainbow. In November 2018, Lush opened their very first bath bomb only store in Harajuku, Japan.

Harajuku has quickly become my favourite place to hang out in Tokyo, with its quirky shops and out-of-this-world cafes. So I had high expectations for this store. 

And I wasn't disappointed - it's bath bomb heaven!

Located just off of the famous Takeshita Street, this store is right in the centre of Harajuku. Walking past, it's hard for the walls upon walls of bath bombs inside not to catch your eye.

The first time I saw it I was actually on my way to a night out in Shibuya with my friends. My mind went from whoa, what's that?! To no way, is that a special Lush store?? To omg, I'm so there first thing tomorrow.

Here's a look at some of the exclusive bath bombs, plus some other unique features of the shop - because honestly, I couldn't believe my eyes when I walked in!

Bath bombs... sushi restaurant style?

Okay, so I'd read a bit about this place online. But I guess no one thought to mention that there's a sushi restaurant-style bath bomb conveyer belt inside. When I first walked in I was so blown away by the bath bombs that I didn't even notice it at first. And then, if I was blown away before, this time it I was hit by a tornado.

It's kind of the best idea ever. It was also so satisfying, I could have sat and watched the bath bombs circle around forever.

Lush Labs: the must-have app for a high-tech shopping experience.

If you're planning on visiting Lush Harajuku, you should definitely download the Lush Labs app ahead of time. As you've probably noticed, there's just too many bath bombs in this shop to label everything. Lush Harajuku solves this in a super exciting way by incorporating an app that lets you scan products to find their name, ingredients, and even a demonstration video of how they react in the water. 

You can see above I tried this out with the Sushi bath bomb... and just about every other product in the shop.

Another thing to note is that unlike in the UK, Japanese Lush stores don't print a product name sticker when you buy bath bombs. But don't worry if like me, you went on a shopping spree and forgot what's what. The Lush Labs app continues to come in handy, as you can scan them again when you get home!

And finally... my Japanese Lush haul!

From left to right, starting from the top we have Harajuku, Sushi, Ginger Ninja, Temple in the Skies, and Kitsune.

Aren't they just the cutest? 

Each of these are exclusive to the Harajuku store. There's actually even more exclusives that I didn't pick up, as I was starting to feel a bit judged... everyone else was buying one or two while I was walking around with this massive basket. Plus, the staff looked a little surprised when I said they were all for me! But who can say no to adorable Japanese bath bombs??

I guess I'll just have to go back for seconds - no complaints there.

Here's another photo to try and get across just how many bath bombs there were on the walls.

Just a note on the staff actually, everyone there was so nice. My Japanese is very limited but they were so friendly and kept making conversation with me. They also seemed excited to hear that I'm from the UK, the home of Lush!

(Oh, they also spoke a good amount of English. I just like making things difficult, haha.)

I can't wait to use my bath bombs! I plan on updating with reviews of each of them, so stay posted :)