(In July, I went on a family vacation to Japan. Here are my posts about the trip: The Ghibli Museum | Watermelons in the shape of cubes, hearts, and pyramids | What happened to the Burgie Beer UFO of Melrose Avenue?)
Having been to Tokyo three times previous to our recent vacation, I was excited to take my daughters to Harajuku, a popular teen shopping area in the city. To get there, we took a short ride on the JR Line to Harajuku Station, which has a neat Tudor-esque building built in 1925.
(Harajuku Station photo by Shiny Things. Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Generic license.)
We took the Takeshita Exit from the station, which lead us to Takeshita Dori, a narrow pedestrian street filled with teen fashion boutiques and creperies.
Many more photos after the jump.
I didn't see anyone smorking (or smoking, for that matter), but I saw plenty of "touts" -- young African men who follow shoppers down the street to try to convince them to shop in stores that hire them to tout their wares. No one seemed to pay any attention to the touts. I wonder how they make a living?
Cheap trinkets were in abundance near the top of the street, giving this part of Takeshita Dori a slightly seedy, past-it's-prime vibe, much the way I remember London's Carnaby Street in the 1980s.
I liked these luggage tags.
My kids had fun shopping in the Tamagotchi store, which has this happy exterior.
Further down Takeshita Dori, the stores get more interesting and less garish.
This store had an airplane fuselage running through it.
Kawaii desu ne!
The little alleys that ran off Takeshita Dori had quiet and intriguing little businesses. This is a hair salon.
As much as I liked climbing the colored stairs and visiting the wee Hide A Way Tree House Concept Salon Cafe & Bar -- which sold drinks, clothes, books, and other select products -- everyone was smoking so we beat a hasty retreat back outside.
Stores in Tokyo have lots of vending machines in them. Some dispense products. Others accepted our 100 yen coins, flashed several screens of Japanese at us, and returned to a dormant state.
My 12-year-old daughter was intrigued by this establishment, which was filled with space-age photo booths. Girls can get their photos taken here, and the photos are automatically altered to make them look like manga characters, with big eyes and washed out complexions.
The photo booth shop had a sign that said "GIRLS ONLY!" but the manager of the store said to us, "Family OK!"
My daughter had some photos taken, and when they came out of the printer, they were tiny. So tiny, in fact, that we seemed to have lost them. (If I find them I will add them to the post.)
More kawaiiness.
A nearby street in Harajuku, called Omotesando, is more upscale than Takeshita Dori. This shady, tree-lined avenue is one of my favorite streets in Tokyo for sitting down, cooling off, and watching the never-ending parade of people go by.
We spent a long time at Kiddy Land, a toy story with six floors.
I can't remember which floor of Kiddy Land was selling these little anatomical models, but aren't they great? I wonder if Audrey Kawasaki used this line of models as reference in the painting we bought from her last year, "I Want to Play?"
Near the Harajuku Station is Yoyogi Park, where cosplayers happily pose for photos.
And where friendly folks give free hugs (we all got hugs!).
We went to the Hello Kitty Ice Cream Stand three times while we were in Japan.
Fabulous crepes abound!
My favorite snack was the hot waffles made on the spot in Yoyogi Park.
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please post more if you can!
arg.
the studio ghibli visit
and this post just made my week.
...must keep saving money!
I lived for two years in Japan while I was in the Army. Apart from the cities (or urban Japan), the countryside where our base was is very unremarkable and not at all "Kawai". Also the locals didn't like us very much, but I guess that's because the jet's and tanks during the war games were always making such a ruckus
Great photos! Hope you post more.
Concerning the "Girls Only!" photo booth, I read that the photos taken in these booths are supposed to be very private things for girls only to keep for themselves. This might also explain their tiny size.
I want to go to japan :\ its so expensive! but i will go before i die!
They have African touts in Shinjuku, too, but not for clothing shops.
It's the world's longest "pink aisle"!
Those anatomical models are beautiful. As is everything Hello Kitty.
I second that, hpfan41! From what I've read, heard and watched about it, it's a fascinating place.
A good mini-reference is the Dirk Schweiger graphic diary "Moresukine". http://tokyoblog.livejournal.com/
The last pictures is not waffles, It is Mini Castella cakes but they sure are good.
Tokyo is a great place for a vacation with kids, so safe and clean plus so much for kids to do and enjoy. Good for big kids as well.
Lots of people posting about how expensive Japan is but in my opinion its not so bad. You can get a hotel room at a Japanese brand hotel in the middle of Tokyo for less than $100 per night. Internationally recognized names would be much more while not offering much in the way of good service or English speaking staff. Of course there are some very cheap hostel type places for as a little as $15-20 per night.
Food and drinks are actually cheaper here at times plus there is no tipping system so you keep your own change. Mac and other fast food places are very reasonable for breakfast or lunch (including very unique Japanese establishments) and then budget $40 or so for dinner with drinks. One day pass on the Tokyo metro system is something like $8. Tokyo Disneyland is only about $60 per day (California Disney is something like $72). You can take the train everywhere, you can walk central Tokyo, you can eat for cheap, stay very central for cheap, get great service and enjoy a great city for less then you think.
Tokyo is only expensive if you want it to be and as a broke American living in Tokyo for 4 years now I can say that this is one easy place to live on the cheap.
I guess the real point is set a budget and come on over ASAP. You will enjoy your vacation and you will see lots of fun stuff and you dont have to be afraid of breaking the bank.
Once again Mark thank you for posting these and sharing. I definitely need to go to Japan. My dad instilled in me a respect and love for Japan, the culture, and their history.
Awesome stuff. Looked like you had an awesome time.
Thanks Mark- I wondered what the hell you call them- touts.
They are in every major metropolitan cutural shopping area in Japan in the big cities.
When I lived near Osaka, they were all over Osaka, mostly in Shinsaibashi, the "haight ashbury meets LA punk" district, and America mura area in Shinsaibashi everywhere.
When I lived in Sapporo, there were less- but several places, almost all in Tanuki kouji (Tanuki arcade street) that cuts down the very center of town in Odori district.
I've asked many of my friends where they come from- I consistently heard "Nigeria". I can't figure out why Nigeria though... Does anyone know?
Basically, if you go anywhere that's remotely well known to be hip, you'll find these guys everywhere there.
I don't mean to sound like the only people who hassle you in Japan are 6ft tall bald Nigerian guys- there are plenty of Japanese touts all over Japan, hell, everywhere- but they are usually polite, and stay just outside the shop.
It's only the foreign touts that usually come up to you, all the way down the street, and hassle you. I seem to remember a guy from France or something too once, in Osaka.
It's nearly always the foreigner that's pushy, sad to say.
The reason the "Pikura" shop is for girls only is that hentai perverts sneak cameras up girl's school uniform skirts while they are taking pictures in the booths.
just as a note.
in japanese, 'kawai' with an (AI sound at the end) means scary.
and 'kawaii' (with an E sound at the end).
I don't know if you were referring to cute or scary.
it's really not all that terribly expensive. I went a couple of years ago for 10 days, just before the official start of cherry blossom season (when the prices on everything shoot up) and it only cost me about $2,500 give or take. about the same as it cost me to go to France and Italy for 2 weeks the year before. and that includes airfare and paid entrance to some of the shrines, temples and museums we visited.
but then, I travel on a budget, staying in hostels, eating at small local noodle shops or getting food from the grocery stores and cooking my own at the hostel, traveling by train and foot rather than taxi within the cities, and by overnight bus between the 3 cities (tokyo, kyoto, and kanazawa) that my friend and I visited. which saved both money in train fare (the bus turned out to be a bit cheaper) and the cost of a hostel room for each of the 3 nights we traveled (a night between each city) and slept on the bus.
it's totally doable on a budget, you just have to shop smart and don't expect to live a lavish lifestyle while you're there.
8 years living in Japan and I really have never been in those areas in Harajuku.
btw, we call it Jailbait street ...
I agree. $2,500 per person if you rough it, maybe double that if you don't. It's really not that expensive and the experience is worth every penny. I seriously doubt there are many people who couldn't afford to take their family to Japan at least a couple of times.
@#14 kawaii=cute kowaii=scary. But I am not a native speaker (my wife is), maybe Lisa can sort this out :)
Looks like you and your fam had great fun. I have only been to Tokyo in summer once (way too hot / humid) since then I only do winters, around the holidays (will be trip #10 this year). But I have never seen / noticed those touters.
When we were in Harajuku last time and tried to find some Bakugan toys for my son, we kept hearing that Bakugan is unheard of in Japan and only foreigners ask for it :)
Keep the posts coming Mark!
My favourite thing about that area is actually the nearby Yoyogi Park. If you go there on a Sunday the southern perimeter of the park has dozens of bands all playing music. Punk, folk, hip hop, indie, all sorts. I would recommend it as part of a trip to the area.
Right where that first picture was taken of the train station and the people with the umbrellas is right by one of the best Ramen shops on earth. It's called Jangara Ramen.
I lived in Tokyo for a couple of years and anytime we went to Harajuku, we always made it a point to go to Jangara.
- CoronaPete
Anon #14, despite sounding like the voice of authority, is completely wrong.
caipirina #18 is just slightly wrong
kawaii, 4 syllables, is cute
kowai, 3 syllables, is scary
The kid measures, yawn.
This is the understatement of the century :) Omotesando is "more upscale" than 99.9% of streets in the entire world. From Wikipedia:
Love the photos. I may be popping over to Japan next March during a family visit to Hong Kong, so this is a cute little photo primer. Can't wait.
I bet you can feel the EVNY from there..grumble..grumble one day ill get to japan
Great photos. I was stationed for three years in Okinawa while in the Marines Corps and spent two weeks in Tokyo with a beauty consultant I met while she was on vacation in Okinawa. Had a great time and even climbed Mt. Fuji. I thought it was going to be a piece of cake, but it was actually challenging. Climbing a mountain in the dark was new to me. I highly recommend it, but only if you are in good shape.
I would imagine the "girls only" policy is to stop guys going in there to try and practice their nampa, or pick-up techniques. The sign outside the shop says "men by themselves forbidden- couples OK, families OK".
It's a pretty huge thing in Japan. I'll never forget arranging to meet my girlfriend in a train station and being five minutes late, only to find two guys talking to her when I arrived. I asked "Friends of yours?" to which the emphatic reply was "No, let's go." We went for dinner and when we came back several hours later the same two guys were still standing there, still trying to talk to any girls they could find.
Young guys standing around practising their station nampa, coffee shop nampa, park nampa, and even street nampa are incredibly common. Sticker booths frequented by young girls would seem to be a popular target for it, and I can only imagine that's the reason for the shop's policy.
The purikura photo booth is one Japanese phenomenon that I'd really love to see hit the US. They're so much fun to do, especially with a group (OK, maybe it's only that fun in a group of foreigners who only have 3 seconds to interpret the quickly-spoken Japanese instructions before their underprepared photo is taken..)
As an American, I always associate "photo booth" with "expensive", "old-timey", "only four photos", "takes a long time", and "fun for 15 seconds". You get a ton of copies of your photos at purikura, you get to do customization, there are a bunch of different booths to do, and they're stickers! I think an enterprising person could make a nice living by working with Japanese companies to import and localize purikura booths, or have English-speaking ones designed and shipped over here. American kids need something to decorate their iPhones with! =)
It's nice to know you can get Free Hugs in Japan just like you can here in Canada. WORLD WIDE CAMPAIGN!
I was in Japan last May and visiting Hakone, Nara Park and strolling down Takeshita Dori were hands down my favorite parts of the trip. Kinda nice to flip through these pictures and recognize some store fronts. Hope your girls had a blast!
More photos and definitely more videos if you have them, please! So awesome. Thanks.
Another person formerly station in Okinawa (Naval Hospital). I miss the Japanese crepes!! They have the best pastries. Japanese doughnuts and the like were a revelation.
Did you miss Kiddyland's basement though? I also like the frames available at the Glasses shop nearby.
I like going to Mandarake for my nerd needs.
@#25, The U.S. doesn't have those purikura booths? That's weird I've seen them around N.Z. for years. Funny what ends up where around the globe...
@Karlos
Really? That's interesting =) Some New Zealander needs to jump on that and bring them to the States!
The only places I've ever seen them here are in "Japantown" areas of big cities where they have a bunch of imported ones. I remember a whole purikura "store" in a shopping mall in San Francisco's Japantown area. And I have a very vague memory of seeing an overpriced English one at a theme park or something like that. I'm kind of surprised that it hasn't really caught on here yet.
Oh please, post as many pictures as you can - I adore Japan, ancient and modern & I don't think I'll ever be able to travel there! I'm living vicariously!
Plastic food displays outside restaurants will allow you to find the best bargains without having to be able to read the menu - just point. All I really wanted to bring home for a souvenir was some plastic food, but it costs about 20 times more than the real thing! Cbinese food is popular, plentiful, and cheap in Japan.
For those who are planning/hoping to visit, also do not miss the gift food section of grocery stores ($100 melons!) and shopping for electronics in Akihabara.
Great pix, Mark! I so want to go to Japan!
As for pikuru booths in the states, my daughter absolutely loves the one we have here at the Phoenix Game Works. They recently brought in a whole bunch of Japanese arcade games like a karaoke booths and funny music games. No pachinko, tho...
they meant "scary", of course. *rolls eyes*
Fantastic series, keep it coming! I love these shots and hope to make it to Japan soon!
Your second photo of "cheap trinkets" -- those are mostly cellphone accessory straps. NO idea why the idea is yet to take off in the US, but here in Japan cellphone accessorizing is a HUGE business!
Actually KOWAI means scary, KAWAII (long 'ii' rhymes with 'sea') means cute.
That last picture totally reminded me of poffertjes (little mini pancakes found in the Netherlands).
http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Poffertjes.jpg
I'm curious how to get 4 syllables out of kawaii. I always thought it was pronounced kah-why-ee, or is it a double ee-ee at the end?
This stuff breaks my heart. I miss it so badly.
Though they didn't have touts when I lived in Japan; only Iranians who hung out at Harajuku Station selling bootleg telephone cards.
I'm just happy to learn they do not allow smorking. When we visited Spain it was nonstop smork, smork, smork.
These photos are making me miss Japan! I've been all over, and I loved Harajuku. I remember pretty much every location that you've photographed here.
Do you have Studio Ghibli shots? That would be great!
I see you've snapped the Hello Kitty mascot with your daughter. I've been collecting photos of these 3d characters found outside shops for years and recently made them into a book called Idle Idol.
http://idleidol.net/book/
It rhymes with Hawaii.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sochd9Xqlos
かわいい, Ka-wa-i-i is four syllables. Japanese uses a phonetic script, not an alphabet, so each character is one syllable, and consonants are always "bound" to the following vowel in their romanised equivalent. In other words, there is no "k" by itself in Japanese, only "ka" "ki" "ku" "ke and "ko". Vowels, however, count as distinct, one-syllable phonemes, so both the Is are pronounced.
In reality, however, there is a certain amount of sound-shifting when Japanese is spoken, so kawaii sounds like "ka" "wai" "i" to non-Japanese speakers, and is one of the hardest aspects of Japanese pronunciation for non-native speakers to master.
It's very important though; the difference between "I do translation and book-keeping" and "I have a stiffy while I translate" is only a one syllable rest in the middle of a single word, as I found out the, er, hard way.
Shinsaibashi... you know that it beckons you to return!!
Hey, I have read all three of your posts so far and they are fantastic. I know its silly but I actually live in southern-central Japan now (near Yokohama) and there are tons of things on here that I didn't know about so your giving me great ideas on places to take my family. I don't speak the language so referrals by others help tremendously when looking for things to do on the weekend. So thanks for the post, and the additional tour suggestions!!! Keep it up!
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