Day 11 – Harajuku + Akihabara (a loooong day)

Harajuku for those of you that don't know is the fashion capital of Japan, but in a different sense. When looking down the streets you won't find Gucci or Prada anywhere, what your more likely to see is various shops sporting the latest “Punk” or “Gothic” trends, those two themes are among the most popular but believe me when I say if there is some strange subculture of fashion to be found... you can find it there. On Sunday (the day we went) you can find loads of people right out of the station putting their new fashion ideas on display for everyone to see. We however did not get the memo that they were not coming the day we went... instead we found a whole lot of tourists... Call me lame, but I really don't like being in a place with a lot of tourists... it just makes me feel dirty. So we quickly rushed down some of the side streets to check out the shopping. Among the most impressive shops there were four worth mentioning. 1) Thankyou Mart is a place you can find loads of the latest “punk” apparels and accessories (basically pacsun) almost everything is under 390 yen ($3.90). 2) Sexy Dynamite. Aside from having an awesome name this was a smaller shop filled with all of the really worn “vintage” British punk clothing … too bad they were crazy expensive. 3) Condomania. Sounds suggestive right? It is. This is a shop entirely devoted to the sell of every type of condom imaginable along with some really hilarious party gifts... I was told it was a popular chain else ware in the U.S. But it was amusing to see one so well set into the conservative Japanese culture . 4) No Name. There was a shop we passed on the way that our friend Tugbe pulled us into that had no name above the shop and no discernible markings to let anyone know it was there. Inside there was a strange assortment of what I could only describe as Japanese metal clothing (you'd get that if you watched a j-metal music video). It was two floors and the top floor full of shoes and some strange people shaped chairs which was just tall enough for me to not have to crawl... granted I'm a lot taller (6'3”) then many Japanese but... this was outrageously short. After we checked out all the crazy shops we headed down some side streets lead by Tugbe to a huge three story art showcase. All three floors were completely painted or occupied by art in some way. It was really quite impressive but no pictures taking allowed inside. By this point Alex had started feeling a little ill so he headed back to his dorm and Tugbe lead us on to check out some of Akihabara and to find me an R4 card (mod chip for my Nintendo DS). Tigbe is a really impressive guide because she knows all of the crazy back streets and sketchy looking shops where you can find close to anything your heart desires. We were out wondering around Akihabara for the next 3 hours or so, looking at all these crazy shops, then grabbed some dinner and headed our separate ways home.