hairfish

JR Harajuku Station and Tokyo Metro Meji-jingumae Station. The adventure begins...

Ayu is EVERWHERE.

Which leads to the infamous Takeshita Dori, the reason most people go to Harajuku

Walking towards Harajuku St./Takeshita Dori

Crowds on Takeshita Dori

Another view of the crowds in Harajuku. It happened to be a holiday on Monday so everyone was out and about!

If you go to Harajuku, you MUST have crepes. They are absolutely decadent and cheap, and there are crepe stands EVERYWHERE!

Becky and Hayleigh eating teh crepes.

I had the banana chocolate mille fieulle crepe. Did I mention the Japanese are crazy about the french language and french pastries? (And rightfully so:)

From the balcony of a small punk shop, the crowds below.

Harajuku is internationally known for its outrageous fashions as shown here. Most people, dress up on the weekend specifically for the purpose of showing off their style and being photographed. From what I'm told, this is more of a weekend thing than an everyday thing but for some, it's a way of life.

Harajuku's Sex Pot Revenge, a store catering to punk fashion.

Fashionable Harajuku girls. Did you know our beloved Seven-Eleven is actually a Japanese company?

Too cool for school. Harajuku is a major hang out and fashion spot for teens in Japan.

Harajuku is internationally known because of it’s fashion and it is as advertised: a bit garshish, overwhelming, but extremely fun! There are bargans to be had in Harajuku beginning from the four-story Daiso 100 Yen Store to the small, indie shops selling new and used clothing from less than 600 YEN! Harajuku is also great if you’re looking for designer fashions engrained in certain subcultures such as Vivenne Westwood’s punk style or Baby, the Stars Shine Bright’s lolita stylings. I also saw a mild hip hop/”urban” presence as well as some surfer/SoCal fashions.

Some of the sales people can be pushy but if you just pretend like you have no idea what they are saying, they’ll lay off. If they don’t, just leave. One of the stores we went to tried to push a friend of mine into buying a thirty dollar shirt. Granted it was cute, but the sales tactics were hilarious. The sales girl spoke to her about how alike they were and how they had the same budget, how cute she would look if only she’d buy the shirt. In the end, she narrowly escaped, but she did and we laugh it off only to continue our search for cheap, cute clothes. Trust me, it didn’t take very long to find a myraid of shops that fit that category.

Harajuku’s crowd also has to be the most gorgeous crowd of people I’ve seen since being in Tokyo. If you focus your attention away from the gyaru and the lolis and whoever else is out playing dress up, the crowd is suprisingly well dressed (and I don’t mean they’re wearing the latest trends for the heck of following a trend) and tame for such a busy, notoriously outrageous place. Then again, Harajuku is just a smaller district of the Shibuya-ward.

I found myself much more in awe of the culture fostered in Harajuku but not surprised by the subculture and subsequent interesting fashions, however, a lot of the kids weren’t out because it was Monday and I wasn’t really going to Harajuku for the purpose of staring at high schoolers playing dress up. There is so much more to Harajuku than the infamy and I’m glad I got to see both faces of the district. I also visited Meiji-jingu on my way out of Harajuku which I recommend as it is a great way to get back to a more level state of mind after the mayhem that is Harajuku. I was lucky enough to be there while a wedding ceremony was being conducted, but more on that later.