Shop til you drop in Shibuya

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Living with a boy had all but killed my shopping instinct. Usually shopping trips with George involve the following:

Him: "You know you should let me pick your clothes. I think I know what suits you better."
Me: insulted but sensing the opportunity to buy pretty new things "OK, lets go shopping"

At the store changing rooms:
Me: "Ok, how does this look"
Him: ... ... ... (he's waiting impatiently on the bench outside the shop, having got bored after only 10 minutes)

So shopping doesn't usually have a place on my holiday itinerary. But shopping in Tokyo with Kimberly was awesome. It seems the Japanese love to shop - the stores were packed and there were lines down the street waiting for new shops to open. You wouldn't guess there was a recession.

We wandered down the street and into Omotesando Hills (for some reason, multi-story malls are often called "hills"). There were plenty of designer stores selling fugly clothes for ridiculous prices to people with more dollars than sense.

The closer we got to Harajuku, the cheaper the stores got. Eventually I found one I just couldn't go past. H&M were having an end-of-summer sale, with up to 70%!o(MISSING)ff! The population of a New Zealand town were packed in, combing the racks, arms stacked with clothes to try on. The queue for the changing rooms curled around the shop for 15 minutes. It was like the Disneyland of shopping.

I found a couple of nice summer dresses. There were three floors of women's fashion, but we only covered one and a bit. Shopping fever had me so strongly that Kim and I agreed to return on Monday when it would be less busy.

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