Must-Know Travel Tips in Harajuku/Omotesando – Artistic & Delicious Starbucks

There are things that make our trips better if we know. People call them “travel tips.”

The following are travel tips for Harajuku visitors. When we visit somewhere new, it is not always very easy to find a good cafe to have a break. We wish to enter a cool cafe which is not in our hometown – If possible. When we are first-time visitors, it is the easiest way to get into a door that is familiar to us such as worldwide McDonald.

In Harajuku, the coolest district in Japan which is full of trendy fashion, there is a Starbucks at the corner of iconic Takeshita Street and I see many people, including international tourists, taking a rest there. But I feel very sorry for them… I know a better Starbucks very near there!

Have a break…

With reading Tokyo Direct Diary, you get into a door that is familiar to you AND you enter a cool cafe that is not in your hometown – You can take both. Moreover, you can use free Wi-Fi there, so it is a perfect place to have a break.

Let’s see its arts and foods, and you’ll never enter a NORMAL Starbucks in Harajuku!

Starbucks in the Sky – the concept store in Omotesando/Harajuku

“Starbucks in the Sky” – the Beautiful Rooftop Garden

It is Tokyu Plaza Omotesando Harajuku Store, which is called, “Starbucks in the Sky.”

The rooftop garden named “Omohara Forest” is designed by a stylist. The concept is “Winds in Omotesando Avenue” that blow from the past to the future. This store offers fashionable and artistic space for people who love fashion and lifestyle.

You can see how cool it is. It is located just across LaForet Harajuku, which is full of trendy clothing.

Laforet Harajuku from the rooftop garden Omohara Forest

Many cool chairs, benches and parasols are welcoming thirsty, fashionable, tired and/or sleepy customers. Which do you like the best?

You can also sit down the cool hexagonal stairs.

Stairs in Omohara Forest

My favorite is that chair and it seems it’s popular among other visitors, too.

Hammock-like chairs (and a sparrow)

Don’t you think that Starbucks in the Sky deserves to enter?

Limited Fresh Foods

And even if you are a gourmet who can’t get satisfied with just arts, this Starbucks offers greater foods than other stores’. Based on the concept, they have original menus that are refreshing, lively and literally fresh. Concretely, the brown tea and lemon frappuccino & lemon chiffon cake –

Limited Lemon Menus

– fruits rolls and some sandwiches are limited in this particular Starbucks.

NOT typically in Starbucks, these foods are not very sweet. Featuring citrus fruits, their sour and refreshing tastes match the “Winds” very well. My best food is this.

Orange Chiboust Cream, limited in Tokyu Plaza Omotesando Harajuku Store

Chiboust Cream of Seasonal Fruits. The shop crews cut blocks one by one for us. There are fresh fruits inside, and it changes by seasons. When I visited there, it was oranges.

Bitter caramel on the top, not-too-sweet cream, fresh oranges’ juicy texture and flavor… I love it because of the good TASTES. (And the good amount.)

What’s more, the shop crews in this store are internationally friendly – I see many of them speaking English, which is not very common in Japan. No language problem!

In Conclusion

Now, who will enter a NORMAL Starbucks in Harajuku?

The Sky through a parasol

In hot summer, don’t worry, there are tables inside the store with artworks. You are a reader of Tokyo Direct Guide/Diary.

Have a cool break when you visit the coolest avenue in Japan.

Starbucks Tokyu Plaza Omotesando Harajuku Store

Opening Hours: 8:30 – 23:00 (Closed irregularly)

Free Wi-Fi Available.

Location: 6F of Tokyu Plaza Building. Just across Laforet Harajuku. A 7 minutes walk from JR Harajuku Station.

Harajuku Sightseeing Guide – How to get there, maps, must-sees, shop data, hotel bookings and events.

Join Harajuku Kawaii Fashion & Pop-culture Tour by MagicalTrip! – Stroll through Takeshita street and immerse yourself in the colorful pop culture of Harajuku with a local guide.

Link to Google Maps