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Heading down Omotesando towards Harajuku station
This was the first time I'd seen this taco stand! The food didn't look very appetizing.
Entrance to Togo Shrine
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Gabi leaving Takeshitaguchi Dori.
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Omotesando is probably one of the best places in the world to just people-watch, something I could do for hours. Unfortunately, with the kids in tow, my people-watching was cut to people-glancing as we pushed through the crowd heading for Yoyogi park.>
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Omotesando is uber hip, chic, and funky, and seeign as I couldn't be further from any of those things, it's extra fun to mix and mingle in the middle of it! Omotesando is a tree-lined street packed with major designer stores, like Louis Vuiton and Ralph Lauren, it's home to the Oriental Bazaar, one of the biggest souveinir shops in Japan, and Kiddy Land, an awesome 5 story toy store, just to name a few places, and there tons of great cafes and restaurants, including my beloved Shakey's. I've read that Omotesando is the "Champs Elysees" of Tokyo, while it's not nearly as grand as all that, it that gives you a small idea of what it's like. I've been to Harajuku and Omotesando lots of times, but never on a Sunday.
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Heading down Omotesando towards Harajuku station
(Note that this is only half-way down the street, and only one side, the other side was just as crammed!)
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This was the first time I'd seen this taco stand! The food didn't look very appetizing.>
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Entrance to Togo Shrine>
Gabi leaving Takeshitaguchi Dori. This is a pedestrian shopping street literally crammed with little shops and boutiques, that ends (or begins) at Harajuku station. You can buy just about anything here (ncluding a purse formed from an entire toad's body).
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At the end of Omotesando, next to Harajuku station and the entrance to Meiji Shrine, people gather to.........express their artistic individuality. I blogged last year about a demonstration that was going on once to protest the use of cluster bombs; very 20 min or so, the entire group would fall to the ground, simulating the effects of the bombs. This time, there was a small group of people holding signs that read "FREE HUGS! All you need!" I got a great, big hug, but the girls were a feeling a little shy, and a bit overwhelmed by all the..........artisticness. There are lots of street vendors with their wares spread on blankets on the ground and lots of younger people gather here for "cosplay", dressing up in extreme punk and goth outfits.
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Omotesando is probably one of the best places in the world to just people-watch, something I could do for hours. Unfortunately, with the kids in tow, my people-watching was cut to people-glancing as we pushed through the crowd heading for Yoyogi park.
I'm definitely planning to head back one Sunday by myself, and it's also on the itinerary for my BFF's trip here in the fall.
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2 comments:
I'm excited to be going- (for the other comment readers, I am the BFF!)- but I have to admit a little scared! Those punk/ goths were wild. Do they mime or talk or what?
I can understand why your girls were feeling overwhelmed, those costumes and such, freak me out too. And I also get a bit surprised by their ahem, artisticness. Ha ha ha.
I have been to Harajuku and all over in Tokyo too, through the 6 years of us living here. And *still* those costumes shock me a bit.@_@
In the country side where we live there is nothing like that. Just normal country people. I swear the theme to Green Acres or the Andy and Mayberry show always pops in my head when I drive around here. Ha ha ha.
When I was in Guam a few weeks ago, I saw some local kids trying to dress like the cosplay people. I just smiled, I thought, I've seen the real thing many times in Japan. But they did put a good effort in though. LOL! :P
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