Harajuku - A place made known to the world by Gwen Stefani. Well, from the tiny station, I guess it started with a humble beginning. It looks like a little cottage eh. But to see all the maddness, you have to go on a Sunday.
Here here, some green scouts. They look so cute and I am so sure they will never get lost. Coming here when you are young to learn about the culture perhaps?
The Meji Shrine is nearby, there is a grand entrance. But guess what, I did not make it in even though I really wanted to. But other things were higher on the list. I will visit there one day.
Look at that cute little boy in Kimono. There are a number of people decked in Kimono, no idea why, but it looks good.
And the maddness start. Can anyone explain to me why you want to dress up like Doremon and walk around? The predominant cosplay is Goth and the japs really go all out to dress up. Kuduos to them cause they really made the visit interesting.
Walking alittle further will get you to Yoyogi Park. Along the road you will see people selling food and flea market. But the most interesting will be different bands playing. And like always, they bring it to the next level, decked in speakers etc. All those electronic, they even have to bring generators to supply the power.
This band is pretty good. They play a really tight set.
Nice bike. I want one!
Yoyogi park has many people coming for picnics. They will jog, bring their dogs and play games in the open fields. But the fun part is to find all sorts of other activities they have like playing drums, saxaphone, dance, sing, play the french horn, play soccer with dogs etc. Apparently they come here to do things they cannot do at home.
Check out those MASSIVE dogs.
They even do tap dancing.
As if BigMac was not enough, they have MegaMac. 4 patties of wholesome goodness at a reasonable deal.
Opposite of the train station you have the Snoopy shop. Pretty cool eh.
And step into MADDNESS, the street was FILLED with people. I thought this place was just made up of two streets like what the books said, but there are many other little streets to walk into. You will probably get lost and really don't know what to expect. In general, one side is like far east with all sorts of styles at a decent price. Another side sells the personal labels which is more expensive as they are like cult labels and brands like Gravis, Bathing Ape etc. Then there are the big major brands like Zara, Gap and Polo etc.
And what is the Jap culture without sneakers. Actually I see more people wearing sharp pointed leather shoes. That is probably the trend now. The girls are into boots now which really looks good if they have nice legs.
I got a pair of sneakers to replace the one I brought over. It was 3 years old and the sole started to peel off. This was a pretty cheap so I decided to just get it. Was debating if I should get something flashy like HAN's, but decided to get a normal looking one first.
Got myself a jacket to keep myself warm for Autumn. Really dig the wooden buttons. Really quite a number of choices to choose from, if I did not control myself; I think I would probably have came back with at least 2-3 jackets.
Still looking for a winter jacket. Eyeing the ones with the sleek cut, metal buttons and slightly longer; like a trench coat. I am also looking for a small leather pouch so I dont have to carry a bag out and can still put my sunglass and camera etc. Probably want to get a leather working back with handles to carry. A new pair of leather shoe, and another casual wear shoe. And many more stuff. (I apologise if I sound like a girl going bonkers, but I have to buy things to settle down right?)
I finally understand what my friend said about winter clothes. We dont get to wear it in Spore, so when we do get a chance to use it; we go bonkers buying them. From cardigans, pull overs to layering.
I plan to come back here to finish walking around this place. But there are many other places which I have visited yet. Sigh
Erm, more shoes?
This is a very funny public notice for the manners in trains. It is actually not that funny in Japanese, somehow when you read the english, it is hilarious.
Crepes are IN here, tons of flavours, but damn expensive - about $5 each. I had the green tea tirimisu, the photo does not really do it justice though.
Oh man....heating up my hot Sake.Nice.....
I wish I had a camera which can do justice to the pictures, cause these Pig's intestines really tasted heavenly. Dash of salt and grilled over a fire. Combined with the hot sake on a cold night, it makes everything feel right.
The huge cross road that can be seen in 'Lost in Translation'.
The famous Shibuya 109.
