HARAJUKU (原宿) - TOKYO

Harajuku is an area between Shibuya and Shinjuku. What you have to see here is a special kind of Japanese street fashion.
On Sundays young people dressed in a variety styles - including gothic, lolita, decora, and visual keys as well as cosplays - spend their time on Jingue Bridge(it’s on the right side of Harajuku station and it is connecting to the neighboring Meiji Jingu Shrine)
Today, the young people from Harajuku are internationally known for their unique street fashion. Many fashion designers bring out new styles inspired by their ideas.
There are 2 main streets in Harajuku, one is Takeshita-dori(Takeshita street) and the other is Omote-sando (Omotesando Avenue).
Takeshita-dori is lined with cosplay shops in which gothic, Lolita and visual keys anime character fashions are sold, 100YEN shops (like a $1shop) and used clothing stores. It’s one of the busiest streets of Tokyo, being crowded with young people.
On the other hand, Omote-sando is lined with luxury boutiques - such as Chanel, Prada and Louis Vuitton - Japanese fashion designers’ shops, hair salons, cafés and restaurants. It has a more sophisticated atmosphere than the former.

However, the sights of Harajuku are not limited only to fashion.
Meiji Jingu Shrine, located just behind the Harajuku station, is one of the biggest shrines in Tokyo and attracts the nation’s largest number of visitors for the first visit to shine of the year, in January.
Today mass media picked up Kiyomasa no ido (Kiyomasa water well) inside of the Meiji-Shrine as a spiritual spot and many Japanese people queue up for improving their luck.
How can you improve your luck there……??

………….Just take a photo of the water well with your mobile phone…….???


Feel free to dress up when you go to Omotesando Ave.
Here is the magical place where you might at least have the illusion that you are very stylish while you are just walking. But you don’t have to, it will be fun just to check out people’s fashions.

On the street between Yoyogi station (the east side of Harajuku) and Harajuku station, you will find Yoyogi park and Shibuya open air concert hall .
In front of the main entrance of Yoyogi Park, rockabilly guys, who have pompadour hair and look like gangsters, gather here to dance to their CD boom boxes on Sundays, and it is also a popular sight for foreign visitors

Some of the music or ecological festivals, such as Earth Day Japan and Earth Garden, are held at Shibuya Yagai Ongaku-do several times a year.
Flea markets for the general public often are held here on Saturdays and Sundays.
And of course one can enter most of them free of charge.

How about strolling around this area with a Japanese style lunch box???