Harajuku Denki Shokai

Ice cream animals & lightbulb drinks

I'm one of those strange individuals who prefers ice cream in the winter over ice cream in the summer. But now that the weather is warming up (at least in Tokyo), it's beginning to look like ice cream time for a majority of Tokyoites. Then, mix ice cream with the signature kawaii-factor that Harajuku is known for and you'll get Harajuku Denki Shokai. Literally translating to Harajuku Electric Company, their name comes from their beautiful lightbulb drinks. However, the people waiting in line weren't there for the drinks. They were there for the ice cream animals! When I visited, there were six animals / flavors to choose from. It's difficult because the animal you want may not be with the flavor you want! I ended up choosing the strawberry pig because I thought he was cute and I generally like strawberry ice cream. (I wanted the cookies and cream panda, but the panda wasn't as cute as the pig was.) The ice cream was just okay. The add-ons which give each animal its characteristics are marshmallow bits and chocolate. The marshmallows were surprisingly soft! I think I preferred them to the ice cream. However, they aren't really attached to the ice cream well, so my pig's ear fell off right after I took a picture. Be careful as the weather warms up, because these suckers melt fast! Oh, and one more thing (and perhaps the coolest) is that there's a vending machine outside of the shop that shows all the animal ice creams you can get... But it actually opens up and you and a friend can pose for a picture so it looks like you're inside a vending machine! Too cool! I don't know if I'd be back here anytime soon, but it was a cute one-off. The ice cream was a bit expensive at 500 yen for a single scoop with some marshmallow toppings, and the ice cream wasn't good enough to warrant a trip back. But, if you're in the area and you're feeling cute, you should check it out!