Day Four - Yoyogi Park and Harajuku

Yay, Harajuku day! :3

I didn't get any pictures of Harajuku girls :< They weren't out posing like they usually would be on a Sunday, due to the 90% humidity that later turned into a downpour.

Mr. Black came back from China Saturday night, so he came with me and Mrs. Black to Yoyogi Park and Harajuku. We walked to the park from their house... only about 10 minutes, including stopping to get milky tea at the vending machine ^_^ It's a big park, and we only walked through part of it. There are a bunch of rules in the park and everyone actually follows them. You can, for example, only ride your bike on the path in one direction. I think it's kind of nice to read a sign like that (or like "don't let your dog pee and poo in this area") and know people actually follow it.

The park was full of picnicing families, amateur and pro photographers, tourists, children, and performers of all kinds. Along the outer edge of the park on a sidewalk, there were a whole bunch of full bands playing in a whole range of styles. There was one band about every 10 feet or so, so it's a wonder all the sounds were seperated enough to hear. There was one band of almost all steel drums and mostly all girls playing them... it was really cute ._.

Further down there were some food stands, and also... the "Elvises." They're not really supposed to be Elvis... they're more like greasers. They wear their hair really high and have high-heeled boots and black jeans and leather jackets. They do dances every once in a while, which I didn't get to see because on this particular day they were doing some kind of photo shoot. It was a good opportunity to get them all posed together, though. I especially liked some of the girls... they were cool.

We walked by the area where the Harajuku girls (and boys) usually hang out and let people take photos, but the weather was so oppressive, I wasn't surprised that there weren't any around. I got to see a lot of them shopping, but I didn't want to stop them in a department store for a photo, and later it was pouring. There's a good chance I'll be going back, though, since it's so close by and I want to get a better look at some of the shops.

We walked down the street that is the centre of young Harajuku activity, Takeshita Douri. It was completely packed with people and full of small stores selling all sorts of fashions. After making our way through we went to a shrine, Tougou-jinja. It was a pretty walk through the shrine grounds to the shrine itself; you pass over a Z-shaped bridge over a pond full of enormous koi and turtles. Also on the shrine grounds, they were having a shrine sale, which is like an antiques show with different people bringing their wares to the shrine.

We ate at a more American restaurant called Fujimamas. Mrs. Black and I had the same thing: a quesadilla with ham and spring onion, followed by a chocolate waffle dessert. It was all very delicious :< The Blacks left me after that to go home.

I went on to Kiddy Land, a huge store full of... well... cute things. There were maybe five different levels and they each had different things, mostly organized by character. There was a whole floor dedicated to Snoopy/Peanuts. I picked myself up a Miffy sandwich bento box, which are not very common, and it was reasonably priced.

I was wondering why it was so dark when I was leaving Kiddy Land to go down a few buildings to the Oriental Bazaar... then it started to rain... then it rained a lot. I only got a little wet before making it into the Bazaar, but after that it was really torrential. I shopped around for a bit, then bought a cheap umbrella and made my way through the wetness to Laforet, a big department store catering to the young Harajuku fashionistas. Several floors catered to the goth/lolita/punk/etc. group, which I could say I fall into taste-wise, so I mostly looked around there. There was also a book store that sold mostly magazines, where I picked up a manga magazine... it's about an inch and a half thick, and it comes out every month. There were also about a half an inch's worth of goodies tucked into the middle... some pencils, eraser, ruler, and writing board. Kawaii ^_^ There was also a music store dedicated to visual kei bands, which I also happen to like, but I didn't get anything there.

It was still raining when I left Laforet, so I looked for more indoor activities. I found a cool game center/coffee shop place. It was full of touch screens and some sit-down, keyboard-and-mouse screens where you could play casual games like jigsaw puzzles, etc. I played the jigsaw puzzle with another girl, but I couldn't figure out how to type in Japanese on the keyboard, so I couldn't reply to anything she was saying, heh.

I went to a miniature, three story mall back on Takeshita Douri. The first floor was stores, the third floor was another branch of the same cake buffet I went to, and the second floor was the food court, which was my favourite. There were a lot of cute stands... I ended up getting miso fried noodles, which were really good. They were like lo mein, but with a different flavour. Then for dessert (I always get dessert if I can :<) I went to Ocha-ken Cafe, which was so cute I could hardly stand it. They sell drinks and pancake-puff things... all in the shape of Ocha-ken, the adorable puppy mascot. I got a strawberry milk and pancake puffs with different fillings. They put ice cream on top of the milk and put things on it to make it look like Ocha-ken :< and the puffs were shaped like Ocha-ken, too :<<< After that I just walked home... things were closing down around the area.

Today I'm going to be around the house for part of the day, washing some clothes, organizing, and packing for my journey to Hiroshima and Kyushu. We're leaving tomorrow morning for Hiroshima and staying overnight, then I'm going to keep going. I don't know when and if I'll have internet access on the way... my guide books show some internet cafes so I'll try to pop in a few.

I hope everyone at home is having a good start to the school year! Or work! Or whatever! ^_^;