Harajuku: A Tokyo Trip

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Do you want to see instrumentalists, dancers, artists and extraordinary fashonists all in one place? Go to Harajuku! Harajuku is one of the most famous wards of Tokyo. It is full of shops targeted at a young, fashionable audience and full of interesting people. This Fall I took a trip there and spent a long awaited day enjoying the eccentric happenings of the area.

After arriving with the Sunday morning crowd at the little Harajuku train station we wandered towards Yoyogi Park. Yoyogi Park is one of the biggest in Tokyo and is a gorgeous place to spend several hours. Paths trail throughout the park surrounded by gorgeous green lawns under a ceiling of tall gingko trees, which were displaying their beautiful, golden fall leaves!! Yoyogi is specifically famous since it is a place where people go to practice and display their creative talents. Musicians, artists, dancers and more go to Yoyogi every weekend to have fun and perform for any passersby.

As we approached the plaza in front of the park we were met by a group of 50's greasers who were swing-dancing up a storm. I felt as though I had stepped onto the set of Grease! The men and women dancing clearly loved it and kept dancing for hours. Even when we left the park three to four hours later, they were still there dancing into the sunset. Later I realized this group was in fact the Tokyo Rockabilly Club, who go to Harajuku every Sunday to get down to their Rock and Roll.

Just outside of the park gate we noticed a group of young men doing something so peculiar we were compelled to stop and watch for several minutes. At first we casually stood around to discreetly watch the guys, but soon gave up our ruse and sat down on the bench across the path to openly stare at their antics. The guys would line up, yell and carry on like cave men, then the leader would lead them in a caterpillar train walk, over and over. After several minutes of watching them in confusion, one of my cohorts finally recognized the routine as a traditional ritual from old Ireland or Scotland. What better way to bro-out with your guys on a Sunday morning...

Just inside the gate for the park grounds we saw a mime! He was adorable and completely expressive with his silent show. After ten minutes of different routines he thanked the crowd who had gathered around for watching him. He spotted our group (five American women) and approached us speaking in perfectly conversational English! Company man by day, mime by weekend, かな？

We walked through the park enjoying the cool weather and Fall sunshine and met several artists along the way. First, we came to a group of men beating on some tribal drums. Intrigued by their exciting beats, we sat down to enjoy it for a few minutes. After a while, we were moved by the beat and had to get up and dance in the sidewalk. Then, a toddler who was walking by with his parents spotted us and felt moved to dance as well! And then, another lady joined the dancing circle, too. It was a beautiful moment of several complete strangers enjoying a dance together without any words nor reservations to hold anyone back from sharing in the experience.

After our exhilarating drum dance, we moved on down the sidewalk and admired the work of several more artists, including two harpists, a speed artist wearing stilts, a shamisen player and more.

We had to snap a picture of our group amid the beautiful leaves!

After spending the whole afternoon in the park, we exited to go shopping on the famous Takeshita Street- where all the young kids go to satiate their sub-culture fashion hunger. On the bridge by the station we found what we had been looking forward to all day- Lolita fashionistas.

Lolita is a fashion culture famous for extravagant outfits which transform the wearer into a living doll. The clothes are inspired by Victorian and Edwardian fashion characterized by frilly dresses with full, knee length skirts. This trend began in the 1980's as a way of dressing to be cute and elegant. Although many people associate the name Lolita to the novel written by Vladimir Nabokov, this fashion trend has nothing to do with sexuality or fetish. In fact, practitioners of Lolita culture consider it an embrace of a more demure and modest sense of style rather than flaunting their skin to be sexy. Lolita fashion quickly evolved to umbrella many sub-cultures such as Gothic Lolita, Princess Lolita and more. If you want to read more about Lolita fashion here is a comprehensive website!

A couple European girls displaying their Gothic Lolita ensembles. Perhaps it has been their dream to come to Harajuku to display their passion in the birthplace of Lolita?

The fashionistas congregate in Harajuku "To see and be seen," and are more than willing to pose if you want pictures!

The girl on the right is a Lolita, as for the guy on left I have no idea what that is.

There and Back Again

There and Back Again

This year I spent my winter vacation visiting my family and friends in America. After a year and a half of separation, I was jumping up and down at the thought of seeing everyone again and spent the last week of work counting down each day. 

My trip started in New York where half of my extended family lives. I flew in to JFK Airport in the City where my Uncle, Aunt, and cousin were waiting to meet me. With a hug and smile of hello we glided off to the train to head into the City center for the evening. 

Since it was the Christmas season we had to go see a couple of the most famous fixtures that NYC purveys every year during winter. First, we ventured into the packed streets around Rockefeller Center to see the annual Christmas tree. Upon seeing it in person I was amazed that a tree so huge could actual be a real, live tree!

Next we strolled down to Saks Fifth Avenue to see the famous Christmas window displays. I expected to see their season's finest products displayed amid a beautifully decorated Christmas-y window. I was wrong. Saks Fifth Avenue employs a staff whose sole mission is to spend the entire year designing and creating the Christmas window displays. There appeared to be two themes this year. The first windows we came upon were inhabited by shining white mannequins dressed in sparkly, elegant 20's high fashion. While walking down the sidewalk admiring these Golden Era windows, we came upon the feature windows which were fairy tale themed. Each window in this series contained moving figures exquisitely dressed in fine costumes purporting a different fairy tale. We saw Little Red Riding Hood, Alice in Wonderland, and more. We even popped inside the store where we found the ceiling area festively decorated with a whimsical reindeer and snowy landscape scene.

After seeing all these gorgeous Christmas displays we ended the night with my first meal back in America- and of course I picked Mexican food! 

After five days of shopping, baking cookies, and spending much cherished time with my NY family I headed back to the airport to begin the next segment of my vacation- TEXAS! 

I arrived four hours later to find my mom and dad waiting for me at baggage claim. I jaunced right up to my parents and started talking about the stark differences between customer service and worker attitudes in Japanese and American airports! The next two weeks I had in Texas were fantastic.

I was able to see my whole family as well as all my friends from University. I even got to catch up with one good friend from high school! I was so happy the entire time that I was back with my friends, reminiscing on old memories and making new ones too. Before arriving in America I had read articles about people who lived abroad and then had trouble reconnecting with their old friends and family. Naturally, I was afraid I would face the same obstacles when meeting up with people. However, I found that I did not have any such problem with even a single one of my friends!  

I did however experience a different awareness of some aspects of America. While eating in restaurants I noticed a fundamental difference in our way of eating compared to that of Japan. In America, we eat large amounts of just a couple different foods at one sitting. The result of this is a meal that feels heavy and somewhat unsatisfying. Since you are eating the same food it gets boring much quicker and I found myself wearied of meal time due to having so many bites of the same food. However, in Japan they generally eat smaller portions of lots of different foods at one sitting. I prefer this method of cuisine because it creates a more interesting and satisfying meal. Plus I am always excited to try "a little bit of everything!"

Also, I found that driving on the right hand side of the road was uncomfortable. And not in an apparent way, rather in a subtle, nagging way that gave me the constant, eery feeling that I may or may not be on the wrong side of the road and I just couldn't feel sure. It was to the point that neither side felt wholly natural anymore. I turned onto the wrong lane twice, the first time with a bus coming toward me. Of course my reaction in that second was bewilderment as to why on earth he would be driving towards me like that! Luckily I quickly understood my mistake and ducked my car into a convenient driveway to let the bus pass before righting my path of travel.

Much two soon my time in Texas was up and I had to make the long journey back to Japan. I arrived in Tokyo on Sunday afternoon where I spent one night before catching my domestic flight to the Noto the next day. (There are only two sets of flights in and out of the Noto per day) Since I had a little bit of time I decided to do my best to enjoy Tokyo for a few hours.

In the evening I visited the famous temple located in Asakusa, Senso-ji. Although it was chilly and dark there were still throngs of people ambling around the streets and visiting the temple for a late Hatsumode, first temple visit of the New Year. During my visit I burnt my tongue on a hot bowl of tonjiru, pork and miso soup, and received an unlucky New Year's fortune.

There are generally four basic types of fortunes: super lucky, kinda lucky, a bit unlucky, and way unlucky! Since last year I had a super lucky fortune I was disappointed at my pick this year. But I dutifully tied it on the rail so that the gods would draw the bad luck away. Cold and sleepy I headed back to my capsule hotel for the night.

This was my first capsule hotel- another Japan specialty experience (remember my night in an internet cafe?). Capsule hotels consist of floors that hold a long room that is lined with one-person capsules along each side. It was actually more comfortable and spacious than I imagined it would be. Each "capsule" was a plastic bed that was approximately 3.5x3.5x6 feet and had a light and tv inside. The end of the capsule closed by just a soft pull down screen for privacy. The women's floor I was on contained capsules built into the wall in two levels. So each guest is only really separated by a few inches of plastic wall. Although the idea of staying in a capsule hotel may seem strange I actually found it to be comfortable and convenient accommodation.

In the morning I decided to go on a pilgrimage in honor of the Summer that I interned in Tokyo. I rode the train to Tsurumi, the ward of Tokyo that I stayed at during my internship. After a minute of hesitation I took the West exit out of the station- a decision which was quickly affirmed when I stepped out to see the familiar plaza and shops there!

I walked along the streets to the company dorm still right where I left it! I was delighted to see that I still knew the way without a hitch. I continued down the road to a store called Life Mart, my favorite shopping haunt that summer! Feeling slightly like a ghost, I headed back to the station to ride the familiar train line back to the center of Tokyo. I am very glad I finally went back to see it all again.

First store I ever went into in Japan- its funny to remember how foreign my surroundings were that summer.

The company dormitory!

My favorite store- home of the best ever Melon Bread!

I spent the rest of the morning shopping and hanging out in a train station cafe until it was time to head to the airport for the last flight of my journey. An hour after boarding, our plane touched down among the snowy trees of the Noto and with that my trip over to America and back again was over.