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Harajuku, Wild Town
Harajuku is the wild and crazy version of Haight Ashbury and Rodeo Drive for the under 25's We got to the crazy area of Tokyo known as Harajuku, the teen fashion street and Rodeo Drive combination of Tokyo. As they say here, spendy and trendy. We got off the train and headed down the main street to where the outrageous clothes in the shops were exceeded only by the young teens and twenty somethings in their Sunday best.
These kids are the exact opposite of American kids who wear their faded jeans, torn T shirts, and sneakers. These kids must be color blind or just plain crazy. They make Haight Ashbury in SF and Melrose Avenue in LA look like the Salvation Army. Lots of color, plenty of leather boots, mini skirts the size of a bikini bottom, and more redheads than a Lucille Ball fan club.
After 6 or so blocks of this, we decided to turn to Omotesando, the Rodeo Drive of Tokyo. The only thing I would say is that it is better than Rodeo, and more fun. We also got to see their version of the St. Patrick's Day Parade. Tell me how and why Buddhists celebrate a Saint? It is a good excuse for a party, of course.
We met
Omotesando Dori
This is a combo of Melrose Avenue in LA and The Magnificent Mile in Chicago up with our friend Itsuyo, and proceeded to a spot of tea at some crazy and fancy joint, where the tea was $8 a glass. We could not afford to buy anything else. After some more light shopping, we headed to a late lunch at Santoka. It is a place best known to locals, with lines normally 50 deep. But we got lucky, sat down, and had the best ramen ever, along with some great gyoza. The science of noodles is serious business in Japan.
We finally visited our first shrine or temple of the trip, the famous Meiji Shrine, in the same neighborhood with all of this craziness and fancy stores. We actually saw a very traditional wedding procession and another couple having their wedding photos taken. We made our donation at the Shrine, gave our own version of a silent prayer and headed back to the madness of the day.
Meiji is a Shinto shrine, dedicated to the spirit of Emperor Meiji and his wife, Empress Shoken. He reigned during Japan's transformation from isolation into a modern world power. The Shrine was completed in 1920 with a volunteer work force of more than 100,000 Japanese people.
A Bakery on Omotesando
Many big celebrations in March, like high school graduation It was destroyed by an air raid during the war and rebuilt in 1958. The cypress wood of the gate is more than 1700 years old.
It is such a pleasure to deal with such nice people, and to see the young women in their 20's dressed so nicely. Our country can really learn a lesson about both self respect, and presenting oneself in a classic manner. Their parents must be very proud of them.
As for us, we head to Nagoya tomorrow on the bullet train. It is a two hour train ride, which we are looking forward to. Each day here is better than the previous day. How much longer can we keep this up? See you in Nagoya!
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