Harajuku, the pop culture and fashion district in Tokyo

Harajuku attracts many visitors with its Japanese pop culture and beautiful nature spots. It is the center of Japan's most extreme teenage cultures and fashion styles, but also offers shopping for adults and some historic sights.

Takeshita Dori

The symbol of Harajuku and birthplace of many of Japan's fashion trends, Takeshita Dori (Takeshita Street) is a narrow, roughly 400-meter long street lined by shops, boutiques, cafes and fast food outlets targeting Tokyo's teenagers. Because of the street's popularity, it becomes extremely busy and crowded on the weekends. Interesting shops and restaurants can also be found along some of the side streets.

Meiji Shrine

Meiji Shrine (Meiji Jingu) is a Shinto shrine dedicated to the deified spirits of Emperor Meiji and his consort, Empress Shoken. Emperor Meiji was a popular emperor who reigned from 1867 to 1912. The majority of the shrine grounds are composed of a beautiful, dense forest that can be explored on walking paths.

Yoyogi Park

Yoyogi Koen (Yoyogi Park) is one of Tokyo's largest and most pleasant city parks, featuring wide lawns, ponds and forested areas. It is a great place for jogging, picnicking and other outdoor activities. It is located next to Meiji Shrine. With an area of 54.1 hectares, you can enjoy the natural beauty of all four seasons on the vast park grounds. Visitors can spend their time watching the flowers, having picnics, playing music and enjoying sports in the park. 

Omotesando Hills

Omotesando Hills, five minutes walk from Meiji Jingumae Station, is a shopping mall with a collection of Japanese brand boutiques. Within the facility, there are more than one hundred shops that handle unique and high-quality merchandise. The main building, with three sublevels and three floors above ground, has a central open air space with a unique design. It is surrounded by a spiraling slope. Feel free to come to Omotesando Hills to discover the newest urban Japanese fashion.

Ota Memorial Museum of Art

This art museum is specifically focused on ukiyo-e. Each month the museum selects artwork based on a theme and displays around 14,000 pieces. This includes work by representative ukiyo-e artists such as Utamaro Kitagawa, Hokusai Katsushika, and Hiroshige Utagawa. At the museum's souvenir shop you can buy tenugui hand towels printed with ukiyo-e art, as well as postcards. Both make great souvenirs. You can see various new pieces each time you visit so every visit will be a delight.

See more: Street food in Tokyo, dishes that you should try once

Nezu Museum

At the Nezu Museum, you are able to appreciate Japanese and Western artwork. Buddhist carvings that have become Important Cultural Properties, Japanese paintings designated as national treasures and various other highly acclaimed art pieces are on display here. The collection belongs to industrialist and tea ceremony master Kaichiro Nezu. Nezu Museum’s other appealing point is its Japanese garden. Within the vast garden, there is a teahouse comprised of four buildings. After enjoying at the artwork, we recommend taking a stroll through the garden.

Oriental Bazaar

This is one of Tokyo's largest souvenir shops, very popular among foreign travelers in search of typical Japanese souvenirs, such as kimono, tableware, lamps, dolls, furniture and samurai related goods. The shop spans three floors and has a red and green facade that mimics traditional Japanese architecture. Travelers who pass by the storefront are sure to notice the building. Moreover, a thing that you need to notice that it is closed on Thursdays.

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A guide for coffee lovers in Chiang Mai

This is going to be very exciting because we are going to talk about the best coffee shops in Chiang Mai, Thailand. Chiang Mai, the largest city in northern Thailand is very well known for having more than 300 Buddhist temples and being the home of Doi Inthanon, the highest mountain in Thailand. With more than 2,000,000 foreign visitors per year and 20,000 living in the New City, it is no wonder that their coffee scene is flourishing.

Akha Ama Café

If you are looking for really good coffee, look no further. Good coffee comes with good skills and beans and that is what Akha Ama Cafe is all about. Not only Akha Ama Cafe serves the usual like lattes and americanos, they serve the unusual too. Special concoctions like Shakerato and Irish coffee (made with Jameson whiskey) are great paired with their scrumptious cakes and muffins that are made freshly every day.

Address: Soi 3, Mueang Chiang Mai District, Chiang Mai 50300, Thailand

Ma-Chill Espresso

There is nothing quite like Ma-Chill Espresso. Bringing coffee to another level, their menu is packed with the most creative and visually appealing coffee. Some of the drinks available in their menu are Espresso topped with Homemade Granola Taro Ice Cream (sounds like a combination of coffee, breakfast, and dessert), Iced Coffee Doughnut and Citrus Cappuccino.

Address: 11/11 Sridonchai Rd, Chiang Mai 50100, Thailand

Doppio Ristr8to

Doppio Ristr8to is widely considered to be the best coffee shop in Chiang Mai. The owner worked for many years in Australia, won awards for his latte art and brought back the secret skills of good coffee to Chiang Mai. The shop on Nimmanhaemin Road is very small with lots of low tables, and is always full. It has an indoor area that is air conditioned and lots of outdoor seating in the sun. Doppio Ristr8to is not the type of cafe to sit hours in, and people often come to drink their coffee, take photos and then leave.

Address: 15/3 Nimmanhaemin Road, Chiang Mai

Graph Café

Graph Cafe believes in simplicity. If your dream is to sip coffee in a minimal design cafe, this one is for you. Some of their newest ideas are Bangkok (cafe latte, oolong tea, boiled egg, yogurt and granola bar served in a condiment tray) and Polar Bear, which has the most beautiful ombré. If you are on run and you can’t do without coffee, they have cold brew served in the fanciest bottle.

Address: 25/1 Rajvithi Lane 1, T.Sriphoom, A.Muang, Chiangmai 50200 Thailand

Bays Café Chiang Mai

Bays Café Chiang Mai focuses on making coffee using the pour over method so there is no machine, just an impressive display of drip coffee devices for you to watch your coffee brew. Bays Cafe is attached to a restaurant called Food4Thought and they share a large open air area in a relaxing garden. There is a roof and indoor area to sit in, or you can sit at the coffee bar with barista Bay himself.

Address: 15/5 Moo 1, Soi Sudjai, off Canal road, Chang Phuak

Kafe Roubaix

Scooters are everywhere in Chiang Mai, but bicycles are now becoming a more popular form of transport for tourists and locals. Embracing this trend, Kafe Roubaix gives a discount if you show up on your bike.
Fun fact: Roubaix is a town known as the starting point of a cycling race in Paris.

Address: Nimman Soi 5, Chiang Mai

Read more: Chiang Mai Travel Guide

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6 things about Turkish coffee you may not know

Turkish coffee has become famous all around the world. But there’s much more to Turkish coffee’s story apart from its delicious taste.

History of Turkish Coffee

Coffee was first brought to Istanbul in 1555 by two Syrian traders, and by the mid-17th century it became an essential part of the Ottoman Court’s elaborate ceremonies. The sultan was served ceremoniously served coffee by his coffee makers, and this coffee ritual also played a role in marriage customs to an extent that women in the harem received thorough training regarding how the perfect brew was to be prepared. As such, potential husbands would judge a woman by her Turkish coffee-making skills. Even today, when a prospective husband’s family asks for the girl’s parents for her hand in marriage, Turkish coffee is served by the bride-to-be.

The Famous Coffeehouses

First opened in the Tahtakale neighborhood in Eminönü almost five centuries ago, coffeehouses became the main source of social life for men. They were also the main place for the dissemination of the oral culture of the Ottoman Empire and exhibition places for folk literature (such as the shadow plays of Karaköz and Hacivat). Today, the coffeehouses continue to be a place where men gather to socialize, talk politics, and play backgammon over cups of tea and coffee.

How to Cook Turkish Coffee

Turkish coffee is prepared in a cezve, a special small pot with a long handle that is traditionally made of copper. For one cup of Turkish coffee, combine one cup of water (the size of the coffee cup) and two full teaspoons of coffee. Since sugar is never added after the coffee is cooked you have to add sugar into the cezve (two sugar cubes for very sweet, one for medium sweetness, and none for the ones that like it bitter). Once the coffee comes to a boil, let the foam rise and take it off the heat right before it’s about to spill, and this will guarantee that your coffee will have lots of foam. Traditionally, Turkish coffee without foam is simply unacceptable. Serving the coffee with a glass of water (and something sweet, preferably Turkish Delight) is also part of the ritual.

UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage List

Turkish coffee’s special preparation, brewing techniques, and rich communal culture made it worthy of being inscribed in 2013 into UNESCO’s Intangible Cultural Heritage List. The tradition itself has also been recognized as a symbol of hospitality and friendship, with locals meeting at coffeehouses to converse over coffee, or coffee being offered to visitors as a welcoming gesture. The beverage’s importance in social occasions was also an important factor in its inscription, with coffee being served during holidays and engagement ceremonies.

Best Place to Buy or Drink Turkish Coffee

Turkey’s most popular purveyor of Turkish coffee is Kurukahveci Mehmet Efendi, whose products can be found in every supermarket or its flagship store in Eminönü where coffee is ground fresh on a daily basis. Nuri Toplar (also in Eminönü and open since 1890) is another excellent choice and a bit of an insider’s tip. If you’d rather someone prepare and serve you coffee, drop by Mandabatmaz in Taksim or Ethem Tezçakar (who only uses coffee from Nuri Toplar) in the Grand Bazaar for traditionally prepared and excellent Turkish coffee.

Turkish Coffee and Fortune Telling

Turkish coffee cup-reading is a very popular method of fortune telling in Turkey, where the shapes left by the coffee grounds represent the past and future of the drinker. You’ll know when you’re done drinking your coffee, because a thick layer of grounds will appear at the bottom; when this happens, close the cup with the saucer, make a wish, and turn it over. Once the cup has cooled, the shapes it leaves on the side of the cup can be read, usually at a Falcı (fortune teller), many of which can be found all around the city (some better than others).

See more: 9 best coffee shops in Taipei

Source: theculturetrip