Here in NYC, people sell stuff all over the place. On the floor, in the streets, on a table, in the trains, you name it. Pretty much all junk that no one needs. Cheap purses, city guides, children books, fake dvd's, watches, ipod accessories, socks, hats, sunglasses...okay, that's too much. I've never even bothered to stop entirely to look at the selection. Anyway, pretty interesting place. Would love to visit, given the chance.
Yeah NYC has all that Harajuku stuff but unfortunately no school girls. I guess Times Square is like Harajuku. Harajuku isn't all that great though. Once you walk down that main street and a few of the side streets, you have pretty much seen everything. The shopping is very limited. Still, it's worth checking out once or twice.
you forgot all the fashion and clothing stores.
Toy shop is Kid's Land, Group Joshin/Eiden/Compmart. Mostly clueless sellers for Kid's Land, excellent for CompMart... Not really open minded for their product line. Only have what they think will sell fast.
Nice post Danny, I have often heard of Harajuku being the place to listen to a bunch of amateur rock bands that play right next to each other so the sound in the area must be messed up lol. I have heard of that cosplay bridge as well, I will definitely check out when I go there. That random gaijin was hilarious, giving out free hugs, I wonder how much people accepted, he is a gaijin after all lol. I might take you up on that offer to meet up with you in Harajuku if I ever go ^-^.
harjuku has recieved alot of fame from celebrities such as gwen stefani (harajuku lovers) in the states... i think of harajuku as the reverse of akiba... its a district that is predominatly known for fashion and music as akiba is known for anime and games... on the topic of the girls in the colorful outfits, those are labeled as "oshare" or "decora"... gothloli is more of the victorian like dresses and bonnets while decora is more colorful, featuring cute little pins, vibrant clothings, and sanrio/san-x/etc goods... im looking forward to shibuya more when i visit jpn soon ^^ [posting on my new n800 IT... lol.. the site is soo hard to read on this thing] -Becky Lee
Free hugs? Good idea! I'd definitely wanna go there and offer a free handshake for any willing passerby. XD
LOL free hugs .. but Harajuku does seem like a vibrant place for people to hang out.
Looks like a peaceful place. My friend went there once and saw a lot of unknown bands and thought that it was pretty unusual for them to gather there. He went to take a few snaps of a certain band because the lead singer was cute. hahah! Would love to visit if I had the chance. :D
Every city should have their own Harajuku! Play in the streets must be so cool. Hahaha here in São Paulo you can´t even imagine doing things like that.
If they are still selling those idol photos then I need to go.
lol...typo error: "It does get very noisy though so if your "ate" allergic to noise then dont stand around for too long." nice post....*wonders: when will i goto japan? hiaz...T.T
did someone said idol photos and high school school girls? XDDD Akiba and Harajuku are among the places that i wanted to visit if ever i get to visit Japan ^^
I wonder if japanese cosplayers would think i'm a foreigner.. seeing as i'm of asian descent.
Harajuku/ Yoyogi is by far my favourite place in Tokyo. You can have your big shiny skyscrapers, and anime stores, but the laid back atmosphere in the park, and the sight of all those bands playing for free is something else. The perfect place to soak up some pop culture and music. We met some really cool people there too. The only problem is that the whole fashiony harajuku bit makes me feel a bit old and 'square' That band were the Hop Coasters BTW - they were superb! Shame you couldnt stay for longer on the meetup Danny - didnt really get to talk about that much, but you know i HAD to see that band!
Would I like to go?, of course!. We don't anything like it here in Sweden.. what a dull country it is :|
Sounds sweet!!!! now if only I could get my band to move to japan with me!!!! that would be awesome! we could participate in events like this!! & erm.....give away free hugs to the ladies.....
kool hope i go to dat placce wen i go to my school trip in Japan
its like totally dead on rainy days. i went on a sunday and the place felt abit like a ghost town. monday was a whole different story, however... i would very much like to go back there and tromp around again!
I've been there and just seen the park and the temple (it was late in a working day). That's a shame I haven't seen the music players and the gotholi girls. Next time ^_^
Hey Danny, I wanted to ask you a question which was not part of this topic but could not locate your email address so I guess I'll post it here. What is the model of the spray gun you use to air brush your gundams and what model compressor do you use. I have been trying to locate the exact items but have had heaps of trouble trying to find them on ebay. If you know where to get it, I would appreciate it if you emailed me. Ricky
Actually went last Sunday, but it was raining :( There were like only 6 cosplayers/gothlolis with umbrellas... But the rest of Harajuku was still as crowded as any other day, only that they all had umbrellas this time, so you can imagine how it was. Went through Takeshita Dori with my umbrella too, just to get the feeling :P
I can't remember if it was Harajuku or Akiba that as soon as I stepped out of the train station I was immediately welcomed with a few different bands performing music to get a signed label. Honestly, I thought some of their music was better than what was considered the "10 Ten" in the music stores.
I saw a documentary on Harajuku a long time before, on TV. Needless the tone was like "WTF?" and "Evil begone!" when showing the most exotic examples of cosplayers and goth people (guess it was all about the particularities of Japan... Otaku and such). As expected from one-sided docs from TV channels who gain popularity and dough by sensationalism and shocking value. As for the "Free hugs" guy, this picture is priceless. The guy dressed in black must say to himself: " What does that bloke want from me?". I don't know how he would see Gaijins after that. And yes, I was kidding.
looks like a cool place ... Id like 2 check it out ... & If one of those hot gothloli chix offer photo's & **HUGS** Il definitly go one day .... hehehe Nice pix Danny ...
Just went to Harajuku today and saw the different people on the bridge, though we missed the place where the rockabilies dance. And that sucks I'll be leaving tokyo in a couple of days but it woulda been cool to meet up with you :
Aw! I cant believe its been over a year since that meet-up! I wanna go again, NOW! *wipes tear from eye*
would love to see live band performances ^^
my cousin once spotted a then-unknown Bump of Chicken playing in Harajuku.
I would love to get one of them free hugs. And a picture with a cosplayer would be nice, too.
Just wanted to ask, what's the origins behind the "free hugs" thing?
Well, some scientists wanted to see if people would contract diseases when hugging... So the scientists did an experiment using a sick man to ask a round for free hugs and there you have, the origins... HAPPY SUPER DUPER BELATED APRILS FOOLS! I need a life...
Ohh kids land! I miss that place i remember my mom would actually bargain for stuff there! Haha i love Harajuku for its cheap stuff.
Nice to see Kiddy Land still around. About 4 years ago when I was in Tokyo, me and another person who was also on the tour were waiting outside for our female others (him, his wife and kids, me my wife) to finish up buying some things. I stumbled on one of the blasted drops in the sidewalk which seem to be everywhere in Tokyo. There should be a sign at Tokyo city limits that say "Welcome to Tokyo, watch your step". Either way right afterward a really weird (and not cool weird, WEIRD weird) goth girl (who you could tell was trying to be one of the cool people, and had been failing for months, if not years), just had to tell me in terrible english how she almost fell in the same place some time earlier. Ahh, memories. How come it couldn't have been a cute girl sharing the same story.
Never actually been anywhere near Japan T_T, but the people selling stuff on the floor remind me alot of Florence, Italy. The ground is littered with people trying to sell stuff, and usually all the same stuff aswell. Only thing about it is, it's illegal. So every time a policar enters a street it's quite funny to see how fast someone can packup all their stuff. They have their own system worked out aswell, every item they sell is attached to the cloth, so they can just pick it up and run like hell Was really funny to see
Interesting, but I wouldn't go out of my way for it.
Oooooooo~ Street Performers!
Singapore have lotsa places like this - one is even reputed to be a place selling 'loot'!
Being an engineer, lead is not only heavy but extremely toxic if ingested, especially in blocks ^^ (privately casting ingots of lead is bad enough...) I think I will visit Harajuku sometime, it looks like an interesting place.
The third picture of the people selling stuff on the floor reminds me of Mexico and New York.
so did the man in black decide to get a free hug?
thats really nice the bands stop for one another. i would love to go there and attempt to dance, i think i'd be laughing the entire time too.
