Harajuku

SUSHI, SHOPPING, AND PANTIES IN HARAJUKU


Today I did a rare thing - I slept in. As a person who usually bounces out of bed when it's still dark outside, I was definitely busting up my routine. Kaz's girlfriend Kyoko-chan was already gone for work -she's a fashion designer - so Kaz and I made a pot of coffee with the greca (Puerto Rico) / stove top espresso maker [s.t.e.m. (canada)] / moka pot (korea) and looked into Tokyo areas. I like shopping. I like people watching. And I like weird subculture.

I settled on Harajuku for my first day of exploration. Harajuku is known for intense funky fashion . It's so well-known that even Gwen Stefani tried to become a Harajuku girl (she also tried and failed miserably to look latina in one video) and ended up making a perfume: http://www.hlfragrance.com/. But when you think of crazy Japanese street fashion and cosplay (from Costume Play, where people dress like actual anime characters or little bo peep a.k.a. Lolita) this is the neighbourhood that will give you your fix.


(I took this pic last April the last time I was in Tokyo)

Leaving Kaz to work on a "dance-techno-jpop" track, I threw a Tokyo subway map into my bag, and headed out to navigate Tokyo's massive subway line. Harajuku wasn't too bad - Only one transfer away. Much like Korea, everything is in English. There are electronic signs that tell you to the minute what time your train will come, which side of the train to get off, and where to transfer.

In Harajuku, I checked out the Nike Store. Designed by Masamichi Katayama, the interior has turned the Nike shoe into art using shoelaces, mesh uppers, and bits of rubber soles to make collages. I tend to splurge more on heels and other footwear that causes immediate reactions of "fierce" to pulsate through my body, but it was really cool to see people sitting down with nike "consultants" to design their own shoe. I saw one couple repeatedly changing the colour of a shoe's sole. Did he want periwinkle, or midnight blue? Ay yi yiii



Next I spent a ridiculous amount of time shopping in Forever 21, and various vintage stores. I was assisted by a girl who looked exactly like Little Bo Peep. Rosy cheeks, and layers of lace, crinolines and white cotton eyelets that belong in a picnic by the river in the 19th century. Now customer service is GOOD in Korea, but I feel like there is an extra smile and bow here in Japan. The lady took the basket of clothes I wanted to try on and folded them for me - in the reverse order that they were placed in the basket. That's right - she arranged them in the order I had grabbed them off the racks! And of course, you must take off your shoes before entering the change room - but come on, you knew that already.

Today I saw a lot of people wearing Russian Hats.


Yeah, just like this guy - but on a cute and stylish Japanese young woman with a miniskirt and knee socks - and yes, this is what people are wearing in WINTER.

Next I went to a coffee shop to wait for Kaz. I sat down to do some writing and continue to force myself to make a decision via writing about what I am going to do with my life. But I got distracted by two things. First, I was watching a teenage girl beside me in the middle of an intensely long makeup process. This girl applied black pencil eyeliner and fake lashes, in little groups of three or four, while her coffee sat in front of her. She and her friend were in high school uniforms and I got the impression they were transforming themselves for a wild night out.

And secondly, there was a white American guy talking loudly. Why does this always happen? I mean a loud, arrogant white guy, who speaks at a volume that booms over everyone else. And I guess when you live in Asia as a foreigner, you get used to tuning things out. I can sit peacefully in a coffee shop in Korea and ignore everyone if I want to. But hearing him speak in my native tongue forced me to listen. And now I know lots about him. He's an artist. He's a musician. He is a reformed playa. Sitting with his female companion, he then moved on to his sexual exploits dating 6 women at once when he first arrived in Japan. His companion was Peruvian - my ears first perked up when I heard a Spanish accent speaking English - jes- but I almost wanted to tell her en español, lady, your companion is a douche. Find another gringo.

Once Kaz arrived we walked around Harajuku entering a hat store, piled high with old-skool hat boxes, marc by marc jacobs where i decided i didn't need a new wallet after all, and went for a delicious sushi dinner at a restaurant with a rotating belt. I only eat thin slices of sashimi because the texture weirds me out, and of course we drank green tea - do-it-yourself with green tea powder and a hot water dispenser. Before meeting up with Kyoko-chan for drinks at a traditional Japanese sake and plum wine bar, we went for a walk in the Love Motel district.

I was curious - I wanted to see a weird freaky japanese fetish store. You always hear about strange sexual fetishes in Japan, from bukake porn to anime character fun, but certainly one of the most talked-about specialties is the "used panty craze". As we walked by one store, Kaz read in Japanese, "used lingerie". I'm no 변태 - and neither is Kaz (^-^) but I decided that I had to check this one off the list.

So on my insistence (I promised Kaz I would write this in a way that doesn't make him look like a perv so let's be clear that it was my idea to go in) we went in. The store had extremely narrow aisles, of the type where if you ran into someone else you would be forced to squeeze by them, making bumping into someone in a sex shop all the more awkward. There was a dude at the counter with long stringy bleached hair who didn't even look up when we walked in. And then I saw them.

There were two shelves of panties neatly folded into squares and placed in identical plastic packages. They sat in plastic trays, and had labels in Japanese. I picked up a few packages to examine them. Most of the labels said, "High School Girl" but one said "Older Beautiful Lady" - those were beige and cotton.. jajaja

After passing by the strap-ons, I decided that I'd had enough and we left.

CHECK!