Tag: shin-okubo

  • My Day in Shinjuku: Cinnamoroll, Shrines, K-pop, & City Vibes

    My Day in Shinjuku: Cinnamoroll, Shrines, K-pop, & City Vibes

    By day 16 of our honeymoon in Japan, you might think the novelty of Tokyo would have started to wear off, but it hadn’t. Not even close! This ended up being one of the days of our trip that perfectly combined so many of the things that I love about Japan: ridiculously cute food, shrines tucked into the middle of the city, K-pop and Korean culture, street food, shopping, and wandering around Tokyo after dark to take in all the big city vibes and night life happening all around me.

    Starting the Day at the Cinnamoroll Café

    We started the day with an early lunch at the Cinnamoroll Cafe, which had been high on my list ever since we discovered it while planning our trip. I’m a huge fan of Sanrio and themed cafés in general, so naturally, eating food shaped like Cinnamoroll was something I absolutely needed to do while in Tokyo. And the café definitely delivered on the cute factor!

    Tim ordered Japanese-style curry and rice, and I went with the omelette rice, both complete with an adorable little Cinnamoroll made out of rice. We also ordered a Cinnamoroll dessert afterward, because obviously.

    The food was good and I’m very glad we came here. I even picked up some souvenirs in the gift shop on our way out! Including a pin featuring artwork of the omelette rice I ate.

    If you plan to come here on your trip to Japan, I recommend lining up 20-30 minutes before it opens! They don’t take reservations, and it gets very busy! There is also a location in Osaka.

    A Sunday Flea Market at Hanazono Shrine

    After lunch, we headed to Hanazono Shrine. And, since we happened to visit on a Sunday, we were lucky and got to shop around at the flea market that is held on the shrine grounds once per week.

    The flea market had all sorts of things to look through, including ceramics, figurines and other little vintage objects. I got a couple of vintage looking lucky cats to gift to friends as well as a cute fox figurine. But even without the market, Hanazono Shrine would have been worth visiting. I loved how peaceful and traditional it felt despite being right in the middle of one of Tokyo’s busiest neighborhoods.

    K-Pop Heaven in Shin-Okubo

    Next, it was time for somewhere I’d been particularly excited to explore: Shin-Okubo, Tokyo’s Koreatown.

    As both a huge K-pop fan and someone who loves Korean food and culture, this was my kind of neighborhood. I visited multiple K-pop stores, wandered through the streets filled with Korean restaurants and K-beauty shops, and heard K-pop playing seemingly everywhere we went.

    It was so much fun getting to indulge my K-pop obsession while in Japan. I loved browsing merch and albums and seeing which groups seemed particularly popular there. A lot of the shops sold bootleg/unofficial items, and I bought a huge unofficial Sana photobook that I really love. I love girl groups, and especially Twice, and shopping for both official and unofficial merch was a blast. Shin-Okubo in general felt really energetic and colorful and I loved exploring.

    Of course, we also had to eat! One of our street-food stops was for cheesy tteokbokki: chewy rice cakes covered in spicy red sauce and smothered in melted cheese. Tim got a hotteok, which is basically a Korean street food pancake. Between the K-pop stores and Korean snacks, I could have happily spent much longer wandering around Shin-Okubo.

    Small Plates, a Musical Surprise, & Shinjuku After Dark

    Eventually we made our way back toward Shinjuku proper and decided on an izakaya for dinner, where Tim and I ordered a bunch of sushi and small plates to share. We absolutely love eating at izakayas. For those unaware, an izakaya is basically a bar or pub in Japan, where it is expected that you purchase a drink. Think of it like a table charge. They typically offer small plates as well.

    I went straight for two of my favorite Japanese foods: salmon sashimi and takoyaki. Tim ordered Wagyu, okonomiyaki and tuna sashimi. One of my favorite parts about eating in Japan was being able to order several small dishes like this instead of committing to one huge entrée. It gave us an excuse to try a bunch of things at once. I love eating this way in general because it is so hard for me to choose just one thing. I am a huge foodie, especially when traveling, and I want to try EVERYTHING.

    After dinner, we started walking back toward the general direction of our hotel, but we took our time exploring the city and popping into any store that happened to catch our eye.

    Shinjuku at night really is an experience in itself. Giant neon signs cover the buildings, restaurants and bars occupy every available inch of space, and the streets are densely packed with people. Shinjuku feels like the quintessential “big city”, and at night it is truly beautiful, bustling, and wondrous. Below is one of my favorite pictures that I took during my whole 18 day honeymoon in Japan, and I really feel that it captures the overall vibe of Shinjuku perfectly.

    One of our spontaneous stops that night ended up being particularly memorable. We popped into Tower Records and discovered that a J-pop group called .BPM happened to be performing! We stopped to watch for a while, and they were really good! It was such a cool, unplanned little travel moment that we never could have put on an itinerary. Their music and vibe would please any K-pop girl group fan, so definitely look them up if that’s your thing. These girls are very talented and clearly have some very dedicated fans!

    And because we obviously hadn’t yet eaten enough adorable and delicious things that day, we finished the night by splitting a strawberry cheesecake crepe for dessert.

    Looking back, this day was the perfect snapshot of why I love Tokyo so much. Within the span of just one day, we went from a Cinnamoroll-themed café to a traditional shrine and flea market, spent the afternoon surrounded by K-pop in Koreatown, ate sashimi and takoyaki at an izakaya, stumbled across a live J-pop performance, and finished the night eating a crepe beneath the neon lights of Shinjuku.

    There wasn’t really one enormous bucket-list attraction anchoring the day. Instead, it was a collection of smaller experiences. And despite that, this was one of the days that ended up being the most memorable!

    Gallery

  • 4 Must-visit Places in Japan for K-pop fans

    4 Must-visit Places in Japan for K-pop fans

    As a longtime K-pop fan, visiting South Korea is high on my bucket list. In fact, I am planning a trip there for early next year! However, I was pleasantly surprised by the amount of K-pop culture and merchandise I came across while visiting Japan. While Japan tends to be known for their anime/video game/otaku culture, K-pop is very popular there as well. Between K-pop stores, Korean restaurants, secondhand shops featuring inexpensive used K-pop albums and more, Japan (and especially Tokyo) turned out to be a fantastic destination for K-pop fans! Here are some of my favorite places in Japan for K-pop lovers.

    1. Shin-Okubo: Tokyo’s Koreatown

    If you only have time for one K-pop related excursion in Tokyo, make it Shin-Okubo.

    Idol Park in Shin-Okubo

    Shin-Okubo felt like stepping into a little paradise for lovers of K-pop and Korean food and culture. As soon as I arrived, I could hear K-pop music playing loudly in the streets. I could smell Korean street food. Idols were plastered on billboards and on store fronts. Korean beauty and skincare shops were everywhere you look. I had a great time just wandering around and taking it all in. I got some spicy toppokki with cheese and my husband, Tim, had a savory pancake from a street food vendor.

    Toppokki! While not directly K-pop related, the food in Shin-Okubo is a highlight of the experience. You could easily eat your way through the neighborhood between all of the Korean street foods and cafes.

    In Shin-Okubo, there are several shops, such as Idol Park, selling both official and unofficial merchandise. If you are opposed to unofficial merchandise, do be wary as it is quite prevalent! There are shops selling unofficial DVDs, socks, posters, photobooks, and more. While in one of the shops, I picked up an unofficial Sana photobook.

    Lots of K-Pop Demon Hunters merch when I visited!

    For K-pop fans, Shin-Okubo is one of the most exciting places to visit in Tokyo. One of the things that makes it so appealing is how condensed everything is. You can hop from one K-pop shop to the next, grab a Korean corn dog, and be just a minute or two away from your next stop. The atmosphere is energetic and lively, and easily explored on foot.

    2. Tower Records

    K-pop fans (and honestly, music fans in general) visiting Japan should make time to check out Tower Records.

    I visited multiple Tower Records locations during my trip and was very impressed by the amount of space dedicated to K-pop.

    Even if you don’t purchase anything, Tower Records is worth visiting if only to see the scale of Japan’s retail music scene. Tower Records has a tremendous amount of music, both CDs and vinyl records, to look through. As a Swiftie, I was very tempted to get Japanese editions of a couple of her albums! And as far as K-pop goes, you will not be disappointed by their selection.

    YMMV, but one of the Tower Records locations I visited even had Twice gachapon machines! I pulled Sana and Dahyun racecar toys ❤

    One thing to keep in mind when visiting Tower Records, however, is the fact that new releases are not any cheaper than if you were purchasing them from online back home. Expect to pay roughly $30 USD for a new album. This is what I paid for a couple of albums, and I even went when the yen wasn’t doing fabulous (fall 2025).

    Another thing that I would like to note about Tower Records is that it can be a great place to buy any Japanese music releases from your favorite idol groups. Twice, for example, has an extensive Japanese catalog, as well as their Japanese subunit MiSaMo. In my experience, it is more of a challenge, often requiring third party shipping services, to acquire these Japanese releases from back home in the States. For some reason, Japanese releases are not as easily accessible for international online purchasing as Korean music releases. So, while you’re in Japan, it could be wise to stock up on some Japanese music releases while you have the opportunity!

    As a fun aside, while visiting a Tower Records in Shinjuku, my husband and I stumbled across a J-pop girl group concert inside the store! The group was called .BPM and they were fantastic! I think any K-pop fan would appreciate this group, even though they are J-pop instead of K-pop. It was a fun little surprise to get to see this show!

    3. Mandarake and other secondhand hobby stores

    There was no shortage of preowned Twice goods at many of these shops!

    Many people associate Mandarake with anime goods and collectibles, but K-pop fans shouldn’t overlook these stores! While exploring Shibuya, I stopped into Mandarake and left with a huge K-pop haul. It was one of the most rewarding stops on my trip as far as K-pop collecting is concerned. And you truly cannot beat the prices at secondhand hobby stores. I was paying 300, 400 yen for some of these albums! The main drawback being, of course, the lack of photocards and other inclusions. Not to worry, though, because these stores often have photocard singles by the hundreds, if not thousands, to rifle through! I actually got a small binder to store the PCs and other K-pop paper goods I got in the hobby stores I visited.

    Can you tell I’m a ONCE?

    You cannot beat the prices at Mandarake and similar stores. As someone who lives in the United States, I am quite certain that there is nothing like it, price OR selection wise, anywhere at all in the US. Other than Mandarake, be sure to visit Book-Off stores, K-Books in Ikebukuro, and Surugaya in Akihabara.

    4. Korean Restaurants

    For many K-pop fans, our love of Korean music can easily lead to an appreciation of Korean food and culture in general.

    Have you ever been curious to try the Korean foods that you often hear your favorite idols mention? Kimbap, ramyeon, Korean BBQ, Korean fried chicken and more are generally quite easy to find in Japan’s larger cities! I would suggest using Apple or Google maps and finding a sit-down Korean restaurant to eat at.

    During one of our nights in Kyoto, my husband and I ate at a Korean restaurant and bar called Kokkio, located in the Porta dining hall. There, we ate house-made fresh kimchi, spicy fried chicken, shellfish, and cheese dakgalbi, which was the highlight of that dinner for me. Cheese dakgalbi is a dish featuring pieces of chicken marinated in a spicy and somewhat sweet gochujang-based sauce and topped with mozzarella cheese. This is one Korean dish that I had not yet been able to try until I got to Japan, as it has not been available at any of the Korean restaurants I’ve visited in the States. It’s very comforting and delicious, and I recommend it to anyone who loves cheese and a little spice!

    My husband and I still talk about the kimchi we ate at Kokkio!

    Final Thoughts

    Before visiting Japan, I knew that there would be some K-pop and general Korean culture to immerse myself in, but I didn’t anticipate just how much K-pop I would casually encounter throughout the trip. In one train station, there was an enormous billboard of Sana from Twice promoting for one of her brand deals. It wasn’t uncommon to see pictures of famous idols modeling makeup products at department stores. While wandering around Tokyo, I saw many billboards showcasing Blackpink’s Asahi Super Dry promotion.

    It is so cool to see K-pop’s influence on Japanese pop culture, even when you’re not actively seeking it out. Idols are frequently used in advertising campaigns across Japan, and it’s a fun surprise to randomly see an idol or a group that you’re a fan of while you’re out and about during your trip to Japan.

    Between Shin-Okubo, Tower Records, Mandarake, Book-Off, and all of the wonderful Korean foods I got to indulge in, Japan turned out to be a great destination for a K-pop fan. Of course, K-pop was far from the main event in my trip, and if you are looking to take some kind of K-pop related pilgrimage, your best bet would be to visit South Korea. However, my little K-pop side quests in Japan were so much fun and so memorable. If you are a K-pop fan visiting Japan, you do not want to miss out on some of these shops and experiences.

    Thank you for reading, and be sure to keep an eye out for more Japan travel content!