Harajuku, Baby!

Harajuku was on our must-visit list when we went to Japan. My 9 y/o daughter wanted me to bring her clothes from there (which I did) and my 18 y/o just wanted to go since she'd heard (? read, I mean) so much about it online. I was curious, too. We hopped on the Yamanote line one morning and zipped along to Harajuku station, pictured below:

We exited on the side that you see in the picture (obviously since that's where I took the picture from). We were on a bridge that goes over the street when I took this pic of the station.


When you get to the other side of the bridge, you keep going straight and it takes you to a nice shopping area (Omotesando, I think) with the Gap, Condomania, Uniqlo and tons of nice boutiques.

We arrived too early in the morning- the stores hadn't opened yet- but it was nice because there wasn't much foot traffic and we could meander as we pleased. We passed this clothing store that was preparing for its grand opening.

Remember that book I read- Confessions of a Yakuza? The storyteller spoke of giving floral bouquets to businesses for their grand openings; that took place about 50 years ago. I thought it was cool when I read that after having seen it. We don't really have this kind of tradition in the States.

Back to Harajuku station. If you exit from the front (the right side of the photo at the top), and then cross the street using the large crosswalk you can see in the pic, you will end up here:

Tons of great shopping, a 100 yen store, McDonald's (clean restroom downstairs), and several crepe stands. Go to the end of the street and look to the right for more shopping goodness. Just so you know, the Goth Lolita shops don't like for you to take pictures of their displays. Several other clothing shops had the same policy. So be on the lookout for signs, and it never hurts to be courteous and ask permission, especially if you are photographing a person! Incidentally, the gesture of prohibition in Japan is two index fingers crossed into an X. Didn't take long to figure that one out, but it was worth mentioning so I could feel knowledgeable about something small. :)