Harajuku Girls

---

I woke up this morning with really good intentions, have breakfast, go for a run and then bribe myself into starting revision with a giant dark choc chip Frappuccino- I got as far as breakfast!



Instead of carrying on my day as planned, I headed to Harajuku; although I’ve been there twice before, I’d never before noticed the humour in Takeshita Street (great anagram), the first stop on this humorous street was Paris Child, an accessories shop not dissimilar to Claires’, here I satisfied my craving for more butterfly earrings however, my visit to the shop was definitely worth it considering that on the way out I bumped into a girl I recognised from the OSCA training day who had been in Kobe – small world! I then stumbled across the one hundred yen shop (less than 70p) and spent the next hour or so picking out random bits of cheap Japanese memorabilia and other essential items (including a hat that’s too small for my head, a mini whiteboard, miniature notes…). When the basket got too heavy to carry, I decided I should probably ditch some “essential items” so it was bye bye to the mini mouse fan, balloon modelling kit, fake flowers, silly hat and Japanese dog food.



With my hands full of half the contents of Daiso (officially my new favourite shop in the whole world), I carried on my hunt for presents but not before a spot of clothes shopping (my favourite home sickness remedy and general pick-me-up). Lunch was my standard game of onigidi roulette (a debatable shaped rice ball with a surprise filling in the middle, accompanied by edamame beans and washed down with lemon tea (I’m quite proud that this was my first bottle since my return to Japan).



After almost giving up on my search and getting quite irritable and the ridiculous heat, I saw the unmistakable building of Oriental Bazaar; inside is like a treasure trove of authentic Japanese goods, I was chuffed to be able to find exactly what I’d come here to buy – but I’m not going to give anything away. I was also determined to buy myself a yukata so, as I am quite small, I decided to try on the children’s sample sizes as they were a nicer design, this resulted in a Japanese sales person shouting at me across the shop, even though it was slightly too big for me, she was furious at me for even dreaming of trying on the children’s sizes!



After being swiftly escorted over to the adult sized clothes she suddenly decided she liked me again and was picking out different kimonos for me to try on and applauding and saying “kowii” (cute in Japanese) – I definitely played up to this by summoning over different sales people and saying; “Sumimasen, kowii?” which I think translates to, “excuse me, do I look cute?” After finally settling for a pink “happy coat” (who wants to buy a yukata when you can have a happy coat), I bought myself another Japanese phrasebook so that I can add more words to my Crapanese vocabulary.



<span> I then raced back to the station<span> (it was probably more like waddling considering all the rubbish I’d bought) to try and get out of the heat and avoid rush-hour. I made a start on dinner and then picked Kaylee up form nursery; she insisted on wearing her yellow nursery hat backwards for the walk home which was pretty adorable and then, having not napped at nursery, decided that my shoulder would be an ideal place for a nap – carrying a two year old is excellent weight training! As Kaylee slept I went for my first run in a very long time (don’t worry her mum had also got home by this point), which was fun if slightly painful.



Now I’m sat wearing my new “happy coat” with the straw hat balancing on my head (I don’t care, it was 70p) and my hair is in plaits- I feel like some kind of Japanese cowgirl , a Japanese cowgirl that should probably start doing some work at some point in the near future instead of<span> wasting time online and gorging on chocolate covered blueberries!

---