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Published: September 3rd 2006
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Harajuku Girl
Vogue. Strike a pose! First off, it was hot yesterday. Definitely the hottest day that we have experienced in Japan so far. It is so hot here that one of the marketing techniques is to print your ad on a fan. Seriously, it’s so sweet cuz then you can walk around fanning yourself all day. Relief!!
After all the hype to go see the Harajuku district, yesterday was finally the day. To make a long story short, Harajuku is essentially the home of Japanese youth counter culture. Teens get all dressed up to come out to the Jingu-bashi (a small square) that sits right in front of the beautiful Meiji-jingu park (more on that later) to express themselves in a form that is otherwise not very accepted by traditional Japanese society. These kids certainly did not disappoint one bit. The costumes were fabulous, everything from pink hair extensions and frilly pink skirts to dark outfits with goth style makeup on their faces. It reminds Erin and I of the spirit that used to make up Calgary’s rave scene. Whether they are just sitting around looking pretty, hanging out with friends, posing for pictures, playing music, or drawing some anime style portraits of tourists for
Harajuku Girls in Training
How cute are these little girls! an optional fee they are just there with a smile on their faces (sometimes it’s a bit hard to see underneath the makeup).
The street leading to the park was a huge shopping street filled with every high end designer store you could imagine. Unlike the pictures of the other areas of Tokyo we posted, there weren’t a lot of Japanese signs or places to eat. For some reason, there are loads of Italian eateries here. If you don’t feel like Japanese food you can ALWAYS find spaghetti, in the 7-11, at any of the restaurants, there is always a picture of spaghetti. Must be the noodle thing.
So more weird things. In a drug store we went into (we are searching for antibacterial hand soap. Good luck when everything is Japanese characters…) they had an entire stand of “Self Piercers”. You guessed correctly, you buy this little contraption and basically it’s a take home piercing gun pre loaded with whatever stud you like. It looked scary! I don’t think I would be able to pierce my own ears (or whatever body part they use it on).
Another store we ventured into called Playland had one entire
Wash Station
Dev rinsing his hands before we enter the shrine. display of old Happy Meal toys. Like the really really old ones, remember when you could get the McNugget Buddies and they were all dressed up in costumes? They had all of those, and they were 1600 Yen each ($16)!! Why didn’t I keep all my old Happy Meal toys and then come here and sell them?! I’d be RICH! FILTHY RICH!
So let’s talk about food. Food is very expensive here. At most restaurants dishes or meals start at 1000 Yen ($10). And that’s the cheap places. We were handed some coupons for McDonald’s so we had breakfast there yesterday (300 Yen for a breakfast sandwich, hashbrown and drink…we can’t eat that cheap for one of us elsewhere!). In Harajuku we went into a Lawson’s Drugs and they had a food counter selling yummy looking pork on a stick for 100 Yen, that was our afternoon snack. Then for dinner we went and had our first ramen experience. Down the street from our Guesthouse was the cheapest ramen place we have seen so far. We figured we might as well give it a try. 375 Yen for a huge bowl of ramen with pork and 6 gyoza. I
think we both died and went to Heaven when our meals showed up (which we ordered off the picture menu, since there was no English. That’s something you have to look for here, pictures or little plastic models, otherwise it’s anyone’s guess what you are ordering). The ramen tasted like Ichiban but a million times better, it was SO delicious. Even the broth was super yummy. And the gyoza. Melt in your mouth tasty. Best gyoza ever. Now, if this place was the cheapest place we saw, does that mean other places are even better?! Who cares! We both ate for 750 Yen!! Oh, and North American restaurants need to take note, in this ramen place there are jugs of ice water on every table. No waiting for someone to bring you a drink.
The Meiji-jingu Shrine was a pretty interesting place to explore. We walked down a long wooded pathway towards the shrine in the middle, it was so peaceful and a nice break from the hustle and bustle of the city streets. Before you enter the shrine you have to rinse your hands and mouth, there is a fountain and you dip the ladle in the water
Safety Piercer...
What is so safe about a take home do it yourself piercing gun?! and first rinse one hand then the other, then cup water in your mouth. At a booth inside the grounds they were selling all kinds of charms, we bought one for safe travels, one for traffic safety and one for loving ties for a couple. We also purchased a set of really nice chopsticks, 5 pairs and they are all painted up Japanese style, a compact mirror with Mt Fuji on the lid and a gold “Better Fortune Cat” which is solar powered and his head and arm wave (you’ll know the ones from the Chinese restaurants). It was pretty much my main objective to find an authentic Better Fortune Cat from somewhere in Asia!!
We still appear to be suffering from jet lag. We were back in the Guesthouse by 6pm last night to rest and I ended up crashing for a nap for 2 hours. Woke up, had dinner, came back and showered, surfed the net for a bit, uploaded pictures, and I was ready for bed. But every morning I open my eyes and ask Dev what time it is, and it’s getting earlier and earlier! Yesterday I was awake at 5:55am, this morning at 5:30am! Damn jet lag. I can’t take a nap today, hopefully that will allow me to get my inner clock working right.
Today is our last day in Tokyo, tomorrow we catch a train to Kyoto. Once we get there we will have to ask around for a Laundromat or laundry service. Akihabara is the electronics district in Tokyo, that is on the agenda for today. Honestly, just wandering around wherever looks cool is the best way to attack this city I think. Keep your eyes and ears open and you’re in for a ride. We’ve surprised ourselves with how easily we navigate the train systems, even finding our way on the streets has not been hard. We both agreed we will come back to Tokyo one day when we don’t need to worry about a budget. There is far too much to see here, I don’t think we’ve even scraped the surface.
Enjoy our pics! Thanks for all the wonderful comments, we are much the same, checking our blog and email whenever we get back to the room, hoping someone has written us.
xoxoxoxox
Rin n Dev
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Andrew & Kimberley
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I think the best part of the self piercers is the name... "Safety Piercer"... like its the safer way to do it or something... ha ha ha. Its funny the shrines and some buildings are exactly as I pictured them in my mind! Cant wait to see the next stop on "our" trip... we are there with you arent we?!?! Okay, maybe it just seems like it :p You should send pics of your room... interested to see... PS - Anti-bacterial Soap is spelt Í0Ìnóx... might not be a bad thing to find ;)