Where the streets have no name

I love my walk to school with the kids everyday which is now an established routine since arriving in Tokyo 2 and half weeks ago. Getting 3 kids and 3 bags ready and out the door at 8am isn't quite as fun, its pretty brutal to be honest (especially when we were used to schools on our doorstep in Australia) but I figure that morning rush hour is universally hard work for all parents no matter where one lives.

We leave our apartment in Aoyama, which is located in a suburb called Jingumae and take a left out the hotel and then another left. We walk for about 500 metres along a road that falls within the quirky neighbourhood of Harajuku.

When we first heard our address '3-1-29 Jingumae' we asked our relocation consultant Meiko 'What's with all the numbers?'

In Tokyo the streets do not have names unless they are very large and very important streets. The numbers tell you the 'chome' which is the part of a suburb your home is located in, another number represents your street and the final number indicates your house number.

I'll admit it I'm a real map person. Maybe it's the old Contiki Tour Guide in me, but I love a good map and enjoy navigating my way through foreign places. But to be perfectly honest I'm thrown here. I now need to find places by looking at maps where streets have no names. This will be interesting.

Harajuku feels like a key fashion hub of Tokyo with lots of funky shops selling clothing and all types of accessories. On the weekend it's filled with youngsters dressing up as punk dolls, with dyed hair in every imaginable colour and it's got a very retro vibe - a bit like London's Camden but a bit cooler and less dingy.

Walking down this curvy narrow street in Harajuku I think my mother would freak out. She used to worry that crossing Glenyr Avenue in Bondi with the kids was dangerous. Here there are no pavements, only a single car lane and I have a buggy, a baby and 2 kids. It's like being in a live ride of dodgem cars.

The shops on either side are elaborate. There are a lot of hair salons and boutique upmarket wedding shops. Im not sure if they sell wedding dresses or it's where the bridal parties go before the wedding. But there are a lot of them. There are some amazing clothing shops too and then every now and again we'll pass a quaint shop selling beautiful Japanese items like embellished chopsticks and kimonos .

We survive the road in Harajuku and make a right onto Omotosando. This is aptly known as Tokyo's - Champs Elysee : Prada, Louis V, Dolce and Gabanna, Blvgari, Chimmy Choo and every other upmarket clothing label you can think of has a bold presence on Omotosando with gorgeous building facades and there are a couple of departmental stores too that remind me of Harvey Nichols in London or Printemps in Paris.

We turn left at Chanel and then have another 10 minutes down the coolest street - with no name of course  - until we hit the British School which marks the end of our walk. This street is a bit wider, full of cafes, funky stores and it's a buzz in the afternoons.

We often see teams of photographers and lots of interesting looking people. We pass about 3 Starbucks's on route, lots of Family Marts (like a 7 Eleven) where we often stop to buy afternoon  snacks and take pit stops on our way home. Its about a 25 minute walk for the girls each way. They moaned a lot at the beginning. They were unfit and kept telling us they missed our car. But it's a firm part of our routine now, they're getting fitter and its a great time to soak up the atmosphere in our quirky new neighbourhood.